Name of Object:

The Great Hall of the Musée Assyrien in the Louvre

Other name of the Object (second name):

Taken from the collection Topographie de Paris, "1er arrondissement, 1er quartier, Le Louvre"

Location:

Paris, France

Holding Institution:

National Library of France

 About National Library of France, Paris

Date of Object:

1862

Author:

Félix Thorigny (1824-1870)

Inventory Number:

VA-218 (B)-FOL

Description:

In May 1847, the world's first " Musée Assyrien" was opened at the Louvre. This was enabled by the arrival of 37 enormous bas-reliefs discovered by Paul-Émile Botta (1802–1870), the French consul in Mosul, at the site of Khorsabad. Botta, a diplomat, doctor, explorer and archaeologist, organised excavations in the hope of rediscovering Nineveh and its Assyrian monuments, and thus brought about the discovery of Khorsabad which in turn aided and accelerated the deciphering of Cuneiform in Mesopotamia. The "Musée Assyrien" pictured here was a great success and attracted much attention on its opening in Paris in 1847.

Type of Object

Print

Archival or Bibliographical Reference:

VA-218 (B)-FOL

Citation of this web page:

"The Great Hall of the Musée Assyrien in the Louvre" in "Sharing History", Museum With No Frontiers, 2026.
https://sharinghistory.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;AWE;fr;5;en

Translation by: Flaminia Baldwin

MWNF Working Number: FR 005