The Carrousel du Louvre is an underground shopping mall in Paris, France. The name refers to two nearby sites, the Louvre museum and the Place du Carrousel. Shopping centre with 60 shops boutiques with major retail tenants which include Sephora, Esprit, the first Apple Store in France, Mariage Frères Tea Emporium, Plaisirs de Paris, Swarovski, Perigot, Le Tanneur and Fossil and an area with restaurants from all over the world.
Location and accessibility
The mall is located near the Tuileries Gardens, the Comédie-Française, the Musée d'Orsay and the Louvre. The nearest metro stop is Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre (Line 1).
It is surrounded by central Paris' must-see monuments.
Shopper Trafic/Catchment Area
Catchment area: 6.7 million people from the surrounding area.
Shopper traffic: 16.7 million visitors annually.
Entertainment zone
COMEDIE FRANCAISE
Features mall architecture
In October 1990 the Minister for Culture, Communication and Large-Scale Public Works unveiled the prestigious project intended to replace the existing structures in the Carrée du Louvre courtyard and which would be devoted to fashion collection displays. The Carrousel du Louvre's architecture was entrusted to NIM, Ieoh Ming Pei and Michel Macary, and it became an extension of the Louvre museum's welcome area. Construction work began officially on 15 January 1991 and the Carrousel du Louvre opened to the public on 15 October 1993. Meanwhile the installation of Ieoh Ming Pei's Inverted Pyramid was completed in September 1993; an imposing 16-metre wide and 7-metre tall structure weighing 180 tons.
It was during the construction of Carrousel du Louvre that the ""Charles V"" wall - a city defence system from the 14th century - was discovered by archaeologists. These walls were preserved and now frame the ""Charles V Hall"" of the Carrousel du Louvre. Historical elements were combined with large quantities of the finest materials such as Burgundy limestone to create the sumptuous Carrousel du Louvre centre. The impressively sized centre is 275 metres in length and has a surface area of no less than 25,000 m².
Planning
The shopping mall contains one of the few entrances to the Louvre museum. It also includes a convention centre and exhibition hall.
