Musée du Louvre is the most visited museum in the world with 35,000 art objects housed in an area of 652,300 square feet. It was visited by 8.8 million people in 2011 and located in the 1st arrondissement. The museum is a landmark building in Paris, France and was initially a fortress in the late 12th century under Phillip II. The museum was expanded several times over many centuries. In 1682, Louis XIV decided to move to Versailles and left the building as a place to display many of the royal collections. About a hundred years later, in 1793, the palace opened as a museum with 537 paintings. When Napoleon rose to power, the size of the collection increased since his armies seized a lot of art objects that eventually returned to their owners after his defeat. The collection continued to increase during the reigns of Louis XVIII and Charles X. The famous glass pyramid was designed by an American architect, I.M. Pei, as a part of renovation project in 1983. The structure and the underground lobby were dedicated in 1988.
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