The Louvre: What to See, by Wing and Room Number, and a Two-Hour Route

The Louvre began as a medieval fortress and was rebuilt by French kings into a palace. It opened as a public museum on 10 August 1793, in the middle of the Revolution. Today it has three wings, Denon, Sully and Richelieu, spread over four levels. Nobody sees all of it. What helps is knowing that every room has a number, and that the pieces people come for sit in a handful of them.

How the building is laid out

The Louvre's own maps number the levels from the lower ground floor up.

• Level -1 (lower ground): the medieval Louvre, early Greece, Italian sculpture, the Marly courtyard and the crypt of the Great Sphinx.
• Level 0 (ground floor): sculpture in the Denon wing, Greek and Roman statues in Sully, the Mesopotamian rooms in Richelieu.
• Level 1 (first floor): painting in Denon, Egypt in Sully, the Napoleon III apartments and the decorative arts in Richelieu.
• Level 2 (second floor): more painting, mostly French and northern European.

Room numbers start with the wing's hundreds: the 300s are Sully's ground floor, the 700s are Denon's first floor, the 500s are Richelieu's first floor.

Where the famous pieces are (October 2026)

Room numbers are the ones on the museum's own maps in October 2026. The Louvre rehangs and closes rooms often, so check the room before you cross the building.

Piece	Wing	Level	Room
Winged Victory of Samothrace	Denon	1	703 (top of the Daru staircase)
Mona Lisa	Denon	1	711
The Wedding at Cana	Denon	1	711
Liberty Leading the People	Denon	1	700
The Raft of the Medusa	Denon	1	700
The Coronation of Napoleon	Denon	1	702
Grande Odalisque	Denon	1	702
Dying Slave	Denon	0	403
Venus de Milo	Sully	0	345
Great Sphinx of Tanis	Sully	-1	338
Seated Scribe	Sully	1	635
Code of Hammurabi	Richelieu	0	227
Napoleon III apartments, Grand Salon	Richelieu	1	544
The Lacemaker (Vermeer)	Richelieu	2	837

What is closed, and what to do about it

At the time of writing, October 2026, some whole areas are closed: Roman Antiquities, Islamic Art and the Galerie Campana in the Sully wing, along with several Denon sculpture rooms and the Spanish painting rooms. The Louvre does this regularly while it renovates, and it closes and reopens rooms through the year. Before you go, check the museum's own list of available galleries on its website. If a room is shut, a neighbouring one is usually close by.

What to see in about two hours

Start on the ground floor in Sully. The Venus de Milo stands in room 345: two blocks of marble, both arms missing, found on the island of Milos in 1820.

Climb to Denon, level 1. At the top of the Daru staircase the Winged Victory leans into an invisible wind in room 703. Then walk through the Galerie d'Apollon, room 705, and look up: Louis XIV's sun-themed ceiling, with Delacroix's centre panel painted in 1850 and 1851.

The paintings. The Mona Lisa is in room 711, in the same room as Veronese's Wedding at Cana, nearly ten metres wide. In room 702 you will find David's Coronation of Napoleon and Ingres's Grande Odalisque, and room 700 has Delacroix's Liberty and Géricault's Raft of the Medusa, both big enough to fill a wall.

Egypt. The Seated Scribe is in room 635 in Sully, level 1, an Old Kingdom statue with eyes inlaid with crystal and copper.

Mesopotamia. Cross to Richelieu, ground floor, for the Code of Hammurabi in room 227, a two-and-a-quarter-metre basalt stele covered in law.

Four plans, ready made

Roamer's independent audio guide to the Louvre has four routes that all start at the Pyramid. Each stop has its own story, and you can follow a route or just tap any room on the map.

• The Louvre in 90 Minutes: the Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, Mona Lisa, Wedding at Cana, Liberty, the Raft of the Medusa, Napoleon's coronation, the Seated Scribe and the Code of Hammurabi. Nine stops.
• The Louvre in Two Hours: fourteen stops, adding the Dying Slave, the Apollo and Python ceiling panel by Delacroix, the Grande Odalisque, the Great Sphinx of Tanis and Vermeer's Lacemaker.
• Crowns, Thrones and Emperors: about 50 minutes through the Richelieu wing's royal rooms and the Napoleon III apartments, ending at David's painting of Napoleon crowning himself. Stops include a coronation sword, the crown made for Napoleon, his throne chair and the Grand Salon.
• Small Things, Big Stories: about 45 minutes with a rock crystal vase, an empress's jewel cabinet, a silver cup, a flint knife, a bronze queen inlaid with gold and the Lacemaker.

How this fits the Roamer guide

Roamer's guide covers the Louvre room by room, in English: open any room on the map and play its story and the stories of its best pieces. It is independent of the museum, and admission is separate. You can find it here: the Louvre guide. For the outside of the palace and the Tuileries, take the Louvre and Tuileries walk.

Cover photo: Wilfredor, the Galerie d'Apollon, via Wikimedia Commons (CC0).