The Louvre is an amazing museum full of almost 35 000 artifacts.  Needless to say, the 13km former palace is not something that can be visited in an afternoon!

We wanted to use some type of technology to help us navigate the museum, so we decided to try out an app called Huntz (both iOS and Android).  The app is a real world gps treasure hunt and tour guide that gives clues to the user on how to find 20 different artifacts throughout the museum.

There are different levels of difficulty and users can select either cryptic or simple  – we decided on simple multiple choice questions to start.

The first screen tells you where the treasure is located. Once you find it, you need to answer the question correctly, and if you do – you receive gold coins and scrolls with additional information about the treasure.  If you have trouble finding it, or answering the question, you can use some of your gold coins to receive extra clues and hints.

Overall, the treasure hunt was a great way to make our way through almost all rooms and levels of the museum.  We finished the hunt in less than 4 hours and found all of the different treasures.

We now plan on using this app for many future tours as we travel. It is a free app but you can then purchase different hunts around the world.  We decided to buy the whole package as we would like to use it in different countries.  For over 20 different hunts, it cost $13.99 which is great deal for so much fun!

Each of us selected one of the treasures to write about.

Zoe

The Louvre is one of the best museums I’ve been to because it had famous artifacts and paintings that I already knew about. The Mona Lisa was really exciting to see because she is so mysterious.

There were two other sculptures that had an interesting story.  At one end of the hall was Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of beauty, also known as Venus De Milo.  Her statue was made out of marble possibly by Alexandros of Antioch between 130-100 BC. It was found in a field by a farmer in 1820.

At the other end is Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and war.  Her statue was made out of a bronze effigy and possibly created by a Cretan sculptor.

The two ladies face each other in the long hallway and are always arguing.  Aphrodite is always boasting about her beauty.  Athena says she has better things to do than listen to Aphrodite boasts.  I think this story is very interesting and funny.

Mikhaila

The Louvre had many beautiful statue and paintings, but my favourite was a white statue of the Roman god Mercury riding the legendary winged horse Pegasus.  The detail was amazing, and the carving looked like it was real.

The sculpture is called “Mercury Riding Pegasus” and was carved by Antoine Coysevox out of Carrara marble.  It was started in 1701 and completed in 1702.  This statue used to be outside at the entrance to the Tuileries Gardens where it stood with its brother statue, “Fame Riding Pegasus”.  Both statues were equestrian and featured Pegasus with a rider showing symbols of King Louis the 13th’s power.  For example, the statue of Fame was playing a trumpet to signify the king’s prowess in battle.  Today only the statue of Mercury stands in the famous museum, the Louvre, in France.

I also liked this statue because it reminds me of my favourite book series “Percy Jackson”, by Rick Riordan, because the books feature gods, goddesses, and monsters from Ancient Greek and Roman mythology

Oliver’s favourite…

One of my favourite paintings at the Louvre was the “Wedding at Cana” by Paolo Veronese.  This painting is absolutely massive, taking up an entire wall.  The painting captures Jesus at the wedding of Cana.  As the feast continues, the wine runs out and Jesus is asked by his mother to help.  Jesus asks the servants to fill huge jugs with water and to serve it to the guests.  The result is the finest wine, usually reserved for the beginning of the feast before everyone has had too much to drink.  This is the first of Jesus’ many miracles.

The painting was commissioned in 1562 by the Benedictine monastery in Venice, and was finished in just 15 months!  It hung in the monastery for 235 years before it was taken by Napoleon in 1797 and shipped back to Paris.  The piece is so huge that it had to be cut in half prior to shipping and then re-stitched when it arrived in Paris.

The painting has fantastic levels of detail, particularly in a painting so large.

Katina’s thoughts….

The artifact I selected was the Code of Hammurabi from around 1770 BC. It is one of the earliest writings from the Babylonians of laws to govern society. There are 282 laws written on in which cover areas such as contracts, punishments, transactions, and obligations to name a few.  The one at the Louvre has the laws carved onto diorite stele in the shape of a finger. There are copies at other museums in the Netherlands, Germany and Iran.

I selected this piece because I thought it was fascinating to see one of the foundations for our legal system today.  It’s interesting that despite our gains in “enlightenment and technology” over the years, people are still people and need rules to help guide society in order for all to get along fairly.

We had a great time at the Louvre, so much so that we decided to create our own artwork in the fountain area.  What do you think?