Description

By (author) Sciolino Elaine

Short /annotation:
A former The New York Times Paris bureau chief explores the Louvre, offering an intimate journey of discovery and revelation

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The Louvre is the most famous museum in the world, attracting millions of visitors every year with its masterpieces. In Adventures in the Louvre, Elaine Sciolino immerses herself in this magical space and helps us fall in love with what was once a forbidding fortress.

Exploring galleries, basements, rooftops and gardens, Sciolino demystifies the Louvre, introducing us to her favourite artworks, both legendary and overlooked, and to the people who are the museum’s lifeblood: the curators, the artisans producing frames and engravings, the builders overseeing restorations, the firefighters protecting the ageing structure.

Blending investigative journalism, travelogue, history and memoir, Sciolino walks her readers through the museum’s front gates and immerses them in its irresistible, engrossing world of beauty and culture. Adventures in the Louvre reveals the secrets of this grand monument of Paris and basks in its timeless, seductive power.

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“Named one of “the best books of the year so far” (2025)”

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“[Sciolino] has volunteered herself as a chatty, amiable tour guide… The author has a journalist’s knack for posing a good question.”

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“[An] entertaining deep dive into the history—and dusty cellars—of the revered Paris institution… Sciolino has a peppy prose style that belies a keen journalistic eye.”

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“[Sciolino] manages to humanize a museum that is usually described as elitist, overwhelming, unwelcoming.”

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“Delightful.”

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“Elaine Sciolino writes with the curiosity of a journalist, the humanity of a storyteller, and the joyful disrespect of an American… With this enchanting book, we will find our way in a grand museum whose meanderings reflect the strange and glorious history of France.”

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“I have read many books about museums, but Elaine Sciolino”s stands out. This is essential reading for anyone visiting the Louvre—for those who already know it inside out and for those who have never been… A marvel of observation and insight.”

Biographical note:
Elaine Sciolino, former Paris bureau chief for the New York Times, is the author of six books, including the bestsellers The Only Street in Paris and The Seine. She lives in Paris.