Louvre Museum

The Louvre did not begin as a home for art, but as a defensive stronghold built in eleven ninety by King Philip the Second. Designed to guard the western edge of Paris from English soldiers and persistent river raiders, the original fortress featured a massive central keep and a deep defensive moat. If you venture into the lower levels of the building today, you can still walk through the excavated remnants of that medieval perimeter, seeing the ancient stone foundations where soldiers once stood watch over the Seine.