Porte des Lions

The Porte des Lions is a narrow stone gateway punctuated by carvings of lions, squeezed between the Seine and the southern facade of the Louvre. Originally constructed in eighteen sixty-six, it served as a private entrance for Napoleon the Third to reach his apartments from the river. During the nineteen nineties, a truck driver misjudged the clearance of the archway, wedging his vehicle so firmly into the masonry that the gate remained closed for months while engineers carefully dismantled the limestone blocks.