Heists & heavenly frescoes | Galerie d'Apollon at Le Palais du Louvre | Ep. 99
Description
In this timely episode, Rory steps into the shoes of Inspector Clouseau to give Geoff - and you - a tour of the Galerie d'Apollon; the scene of the crime for the latest Louvre heist in which eight priceless pieces from the French Crown Jewels were stolen in only eight minutes.
We invite our listeners to join us in the luminous splendour of the Galerie d’Apollon in Le Palais du Louvre; a room that reads like a manifesto of French royal ambition. Designed after the 1661 fire that ravaged the palace, the Galerie became a testing ground for the emerging language of the French Baroque - soaring ceilings, gilded stucco work and celestial frescoes celebrating the Sun King (Louis XIV). Its walls and ceiling, enriched by the work of Le Brun and later Delacroix, chart the evolution of French statecraft through art. The Louvre Palace opened as a museum in 1793, and the Galerie has been the home of the French Crown Jewels since the 19th century - their own turbulent history mirroring the political metamorphoses undergone by the nation of France over the centuries.
By situating this palace interior within the broader tradition of European domestic architecture, the episode explores how courtly aesthetics shaped the ambitions of country houses and urban palaces alike - each aspiring to embody a choreography of power, spectacle, and cultivated magnificence.
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