A façade facing Paris

Look at the row of columns above the first stone level. They are paired, with open spaces between the groups. In the centre, a triangular pediment marks the axis of the façade. That ordered repetition makes the front readable from some distance, before you look at its decoration. The Colonnade was built in the seventeenth century during the reign of Louis XIV. He was the French king who presented his authority through great buildings and works of art. Louis Le Vau, an architect, Charles Le Brun, a painter, and Claude Perrault, a scientist and architect, worked on this front. Perrault’s name became particularly associated with it. The columns and pediment return to forms used in ancient buildings. Here they belong to a broad, regular and symmetrical arrangement. This approach is often called classicism. You can recognise it by following the horizontal line joining the columns and comparing the two halves of the façade. One of the palace’s courtyards lies behind this front. The building had already changed for centuries when this side was made. The old Louvre began as a medieval fortress and gradually acquired royal wings and halls. The façade facing Paris belongs to a period when the palace also had to represent the king before the city. If you approach within the permitted area, notice how the columns’ scale changes beside people passing below. A distant view reveals the order. A closer one reveals their height and the depth of the spaces between them. Both views show useful parts of the same front.