Grande Galerie

[9] The design of the western half is attributed to Jacques II Androuet du Cerceau, who decorated it with a giant order of coupled pilasters framing two floors of windows.

[3]: 70 From 1697 on, the French state's collection of plans-reliefs was stored in the Grande Galerie, of which it occupied all the space by 1754 with about 120 items placed on wooden tables.

[2]: 16  This was not intended as an artistic exhibition but served a military purpose, as the plans-reliefs were used to study and prepare defensive and offensive siege operations of the fortified cities and strongholds they represented.

[10] During the reign of Louis XVI, the comte d’Angiviller promoted the use of the Grande Galerie as a public museum, tasked Hubert Robert with preparing it, and had some paintings transferred there from Versailles in 1785.

Hubert Robert, after being appointed the museum's first "keeper of paintings",[11] projected to improve the lighting of the gallery, by sealing its windows and opening skylights in its vaulted ceiling.

Percier and Fontaine also created nine subdivisions of the long room, separated by groups of columns arranged in the manner of Venetian windows as Robert had imagined.

[5] On 2 April 1810, Napoleon and Marie Louise of Austria led a procession from the Tuileries throughout the Grande Galerie on the occasion of their wedding, which was celebrated in the Salon Carré, temporarily converted into a chapel.

[7] In 1849–1851, the exterior façade of the Eastern section of the Grande Galerie was renovated by architect Félix Duban, who replaced most of the stonework even though he scrupulously respected most of the original design.

[14] The room was refurbished during the 1990s as part of the Grand Louvre project, with no change of design but installation of air conditioning and other amenities.