The Venus de Milo is in room 345 in the Sully wing, on level 0 (the ground floor) of the Louvre, as of October 2026. Her arms have never been recovered in full. A Greek farmer found her on Milos on 8 April 1820.
The Venus de Milo stands in room 345, in the Louvre's Sully wing on level 0, the ground floor. The Louvre's own name for the room is the gallery of classical and Hellenistic Greek art. That was her place on the museum's plan in October 2026. The room is built around her: look at her from every side and notice what is missing.
What is missing
Both arms are gone, and so is the left foot. She is made of two blocks of Parian marble joined at the hips, 204 centimetres high, with her robe sliding low on her hips. A hole under her right breast once held a metal pin for the arm. Holes also show that she once wore a metal diadem and a bracelet.
What was found with her
Hear a stop from this walk
Quai d'Anjou and the Hôtel de Lauzun: A Plain Front, a Rich House
A Greek farmer found her on the island of Milos on 8 April 1820, as a French sailor, Olivier Voutier, watched. According to Wikipedia, a fragment of an arm and a hand holding an apple were found alongside the statue, with two herms. It adds that analysis during a restoration in 2010 supported the arm fragment and the hand as belonging to her.
What did she hold?
Nobody knows. The earliest accounts took her for Aphrodite holding the apple. In 1876 the German scholar Wilhelm Fröhner proposed that her right hand held slipping drapery and her left an apple, and that idea is the most widely accepted today. Other proposals include wreaths, a dove, spears and a shield. Some scholars thought she was part of a group, with her arms around another figure. Aphrodite is the most likely identity, but nobody can say for certain.
How she reached the Louvre
The Louvre's record lists a gift from the Marquis de Rivière, the French ambassador, to Louis XVIII, and she reached the museum in 1821. Other accounts say an agent bought her on the island. In 2017 the municipality of Milos began a campaign to bring her home.
How this fits the Roamer guide
The Venus de Milo is on the start of both "The Louvre in 90 Minutes" and "The Louvre in Two Hours" in Roamer's independent audio guide to the Louvre. Open room 345 and play its story, or start a route: the Louvre guide. For the rest of the museum, by wing and room number, read what to see at the Louvre. It is not affiliated with the museum, and admission is separate.
Cover photo: Shonagon, Vénus de Milo, via Wikimedia Commons (CC0).
Ready to experience it?
Notre-Dame and Île de la Cité: An Island Rebuilt Three Times
90 min · 2.1 km · easy
More from Paris
Explore more at your own pace.
Musée d'Orsay: What to See, Floor by Floor
The Code of Hammurabi at the Louvre: Which Room, and the Story of the Stone
The Louvre: What to See, by Wing and Room Number, and a Two-Hour Route
The Mona Lisa: Which Room It Is In and What to Know
The Raft of the Medusa at the Louvre: Where It Hangs and the True Story
