The history of the Louvre is marked by significant cultural events and transformations. In June 1662, Louis XIV organized a grand carrousel featuring 1,300 riders to celebrate the birth of his first son, giving the "Carrousel" its name. The site was closely linked to the Tuileries palace, which dated back to the reign of Henri IV (r. 1589–1610) and was later destroyed by the Communards in 1871. In 2015, President-Director Jean-Luc Martinez submitted a report recommending the creation of the ALIPH foundation, which became fully operational in 2018 under Chairman Dr Thomas S. Kaplan and Executive Director Valéry Freland to protect heritage in conflict zones such as Mosul and Beirut. The 1980s "Grand Louvre" project, commissioned by President François Mitterrand in 1981, further modernized the museum, including the transformation of the Cour Napoléon.

The Louvre’s architectural identity is defined by a blend of historical monuments and modernist feats. The Arc du Carrousel, built in 1806–1808 and modelled on the Arch of Septimius Severus in Rome, features red marble columns and a quadriga by François-Joseph Bosio added in 1827. A central symbol of the museum is the Pyramid, designed by Chinese-American architect I.M. Pei and inaugurated on March 29, 1989. This 21-meter-high structure consists of 675 diamond-shaped and 118 triangular glass panes manufactured by the Saint-Gobain factory. The Jardin du Carrousel, redesigned in the early 1990s by Jacques Wirtz and Peter, serves as an open-air museum for bronze sculptures by Aristide Maillol. The museum complex now features a total of five pyramids, including the inverted pyramid located in the underground Carrousel shopping centre.

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