Paris · History & Culture
The Namesakes of the Louvre's Three Wings
Richelieu, Sully and Denon Wings · Paris, France
The Louvre is made up of three wings — Richelieu, Sully, and Denon — each named after a notable figure from French history.
Richelieu was a Catholic priest who rose to become a cardinal. Far from staying in the clergy, he won the trust of King Louis XIII and was named France's chief minister, playing a major role in centralizing the French state. But the real reason his name graces a Louvre wing is that he founded the Académie française, a literary society so prestigious that simply becoming a member is considered a great honor. Victor Hugo, of Les Misérables fame, was among its ranks.
Sully served as finance minister under King Henri IV and was known as the king's right-hand man. Henri IV, founder of the Bourbon dynasty, is regarded alongside Louis XIV as one of France's greatest kings — and much of that reputation rests on Sully's work. He cracked down harshly on embezzlement in tax collection to protect citizens from harm, cut wasteful and unnecessary government offices, and ran the state with a level of integrity that helped earn the people's loyalty to the crown. He was so beloved that, before France adopted the euro, his portrait appeared on the 100-franc note.
The Denon wing takes its name from the Louvre's very first museum director. A skilled artist and diplomat who lived in several countries, Denon accompanied Napoleon on his Egyptian campaign — one purpose of which was to bring valuable foreign cultural treasures back to France. The vast collection of Egyptian artifacts held in the Louvre today all trace back to that expedition. Though technically paid for, it amounted, in practice, to little more than plunder.
Starting in Egypt, Denon went on to follow Napoleon's campaigns across the world, bringing back priceless artifacts wherever he went. It's largely thanks to Denon that the Louvre holds such an extraordinary collection today — and that legacy earned him a wing bearing his name. Fittingly, the Denon wing houses more of the museum's best-known works than either of the other two.
