Tour the Louvre Museum with Children

26 September 2011 by Mira Saxena    5789  
Tour the Louvre Museum with Children
  How does one begin to capture the imaginations of two young girls at the Louvre Museum, one of the world’s largest and most famous art museums? Ours is a family where art is not just appreciated but very much encouraged as a hobby and pastime. From the youngest of ages, both kids were taught about the painters whose famous works are displayed at the Louvre. Yet, the thought of bringing the girls to the Louvre was an intimidating one. They’d already toured Musée de l’Orangerie and Musée d’Orsay on this trip, but after hearing “we want to see the Mona Lisa!” enough times, we gave it a go on our third official day in Paris. We had a 9:30am appointment to meet a guide named Marie who would lead us on the “Louvre Crash Course” tour. She was there right on time, and she and the kids became fast friends. At the famous Louvre I.M. Pei Pyramid entrance, lines were already snaking through the courtyard. We then realized it was the first Sunday of the month, the monthly free entry day at Paris museums that usually draws huge crowds. We expected this would make it especially challenging to guide two small but eager people through the Louvre. We entered through a private entrance reserved for tours that was much less crowded. Marie knew the girls’ main wish was to see this “Mona Lisa” they’d been hearing about forever, and that we’d have to pick up the pace because the area where the most famous painting in the world would soon flood with people. Marie again guided us swiftly away from the crowds and through an almost empty passageway that led us easily to the Mona Lisa. The kids managed the many stairs impressively and their eyes were huge as they looked up at the breathtakingly beautiful painted ceilings above the stairways. “How does Mom always know to look up for all the good things?” my daughter asked her sister. I reminded them, there were good things everywhere here. It’s all about perspective, and to engage little ones aged five and eight, as my two are, you need a sense of what things must look like from about two feet down. I waited to see if our guide, Marie, could hold their attention; after a summer of keeping them stimulated and busy, I know it’s no easy task. It’s difficult for young children to manage the size, scale and meaning of what is seen at such a large museum, yet Marie remained true to the tour company’s name by putting things into context, which is the key to learning. She was animated, energetic and very knowledgeable. Luckily we arrived in front of da Vinci’s masterpiece before the crowd became too deep. Still, it took a few hoists above the shoulder-to-shoulder mob of people crowded around the painting with cameras. But even our smallest managed to snap a photo with her new disposable camera. Marie then presented each of our daughters with a booklet that outlined some of the sites on our upcoming tour. We had a bit of a lesson on the symbolism and history related to the Mona Lisa and then the kids were off to do an activity: a visual scavenger hunt in which they checked off displays noted in their booklets, such the enormous painting The Wedding Feast of Cana by Paolo Caliari, known as Veronese. By then I was pleased to see the kids asking and answering questions and really enjoying Marie. Soon we were off to see the statue, Winged Victory of Samothrace, where there were more questions, discussions and working in the kids’ art workbooks. Our next stop was a quieter room where we learned about Etruscan art and architecture. At this point the adults were as engaged as the kids, benefiting from Marie’s ability to convey her knowledge by referencing understandable concepts and themes from a child’s day-to-day world. In the Egyptian Chapel of the Tomb of Akhethotep, details about mummies, embalming and afterworlds were difficult to broach for kids with only a shallow understanding of religion and death, yet Marie was able to distill it a bit with our help, keeping it relevant and “cool” enough to keep their interest. Next we saw Roman art and sculpture, and thanks to my older daughter’s love for Percy Jackson from Rick Riordan’s adventure novels and some school discussions, she participated in Marie’s lessons about Roman gods and goddesses.
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By Mira Saxena