virtual tour of louvre paintings

How To Virtually Tour of Paris’ Louvre & See Every Masterpiece

If you’re an art enthusiast, the Louvre is probably at the top of your Paris or museum wish list.

As the world’s largest and most visited museum, it boasts an impressive collection of 35,000 artworks, ranging from the 6th century BC to the 19th century AD, all housed within a magnificent Renaissance palace.

However, as you might imagine, visiting the Louvre can be quite the experience.

It’s often packed with crowds, flashing cameras, selfie sticks, and people bustling around or trying to touch the art. This can make it feel a bit chaotic and overwhelming.

But there’s good news! You can now explore the Louvre from the comfort of your home, avoiding the hustle and bustle.

I’ll guide you through how to virtually visit this iconic museum and view all its must-see masterpieces. Get ready to enjoy your personal Leonardo or Michelangelo experience in peaceful solitude.

Layout of the Louvre

The Louvre is a U shape, divided into three wings: Denon, Sully, and Richelieu. Each of the wings has four floors.

The Denon Wing is home to the Louvre’s best known art work, including the world’s most famous painting, the Mona Lisa .

The Sully Wing is known for its statuary and antiquities.

The Richelieu Wing houses the lavish apartments of Napoleon III and some famed Dutch art works.

Virtual Tour of Louvre Masterpieces

Let’s take an online virtual tour of the Louvre, wing by wing.

You can see all the must see masterpieces via 360 video tours, YouTube videos, or online tours on the Louvre Website itself. For a lengthy overall YouTube tour of the Louvre, click here .

The Denon Wing

The Denon Wing is the most visited part of the Louvre. It boasts the fabulously ornate Apollo Gallery, with high arches and frescoed ceilings.

It’s a shrine to Sun King Louis XIV. The paintings were begun by Charles Le Brun and completed by Eugene Delacroix.

1. French Paintings in the Denon Wing

The Denon Wing is most renowned for its iconic French paintings from the Neoclassical and Romantic periods of art history. The must see French masterpieces include:

• Eugene Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People
• Jacques-Louis David, The Coronation of Napoleon
• Theodore Gericault, Raft of the Medusa
• Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Grand Odalisque

You can take a virtual tour of the recently restored Apollo Gallery on the Louvre’s website here . You can learn about the Coronation of Napoleon from this Louvre YouTuber .

You can take a virtual video tour of the world’s most famous French painting, Liberty Leading the People here . And learn about the Grand Odalisque here .

Via my blog, you can also explore the Louvre’s underrated masterpieces in the Denon Wing.

I also have a guide to what I think is the best painting in the Louvre , Gericault’s Raft of the Medusa , a then-scandalous painting based on a true story.

2. Italian Paintings in the Denon Wing

The Denon Wing also boasts treasures from the Italian Renaissance.

This is where you’ll find works by Sandro Botticelli , Leonardo da Vinci , Raphael , and Titian. The must see masterpieces include:

• Leonardo Da Vinci, Mona Lisa
• Leonardo Da Vinci, The Virgin and Child With St. Anne
• Titian, Pastoral Concert
• Raphael, Portrait of Baldasarre Castiglione
• Paolo Veronese, The Wedding Feast at Cana

You can take a virtual 360 tour of the Grand Gallery, which houses much of the Louvre’s Italian art.

If you’re a Mona Lisa fan, the Louvre is offering the museum’s first virtual reality experience , which brings to life the story of the enigmatic portrait. You can also take a virtual tour of the Mona Lisa here , with Smarthistory, an artsy YouTube channel.

In the Louvre’s busiest room, the Mona Lisa stares across at Veronese’s massive Wedding Feast at Cana . You can take a virtual tour and get the full scoop on the Louvre’s largest painting here .

You can virtually tour Raphael’s paintings, including Baldasarre , on Google Arts & Culture . Learn about Titian’s Pastoral Concert , which inspired Edouard Monet’s groundbreaking painting Luncheon on the Grass , here .

READ : 3 Day Impressionism Tour of Paris

3. Sculptures in the Denon Wing

If you prefer sculpture to painting, the Denon Wing has one of the world’s most magnificent sculptures — the Winged Victory of Samothrac e.

It also has a room on the ground dedicated to Italian sculpture, the Michelangelo Gallery. It’s one of my favorites spots in the Louvre.

It’s home to Michelangelo’s Dying Slave and Rebellious Slave , from 1513-15. These sculptures seem to struggle to escape the marble.

They were originally intended for the Tomb of Pope Julius II in Rome. But Michelangelo got distracted with the ceiling of the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel and could never finish the tomb.

READ : Masterpieces of the Vatican

You can also find Antonio Canova’s incredibly romantic Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss . It’s considered Canova’s master work.

You can take a virtual tour of Michelangelo’s Slaves here , a virtual tour of Canova’s work on Google Arts & Culture , and a virtual tour of Canova’s Psyche here . You can take a virtual 360 tour of the Winged Victory here .

2. The Sully Wing

In the Sully Wing, you’ll find some of the world’s most beautiful sculptures, antiquities, and the remains of the Medieval Louvre.

One of the Louvre’s greatest ladies, a Hellenistic masterpiece, is here — the Venus de Milo . Even without arms, Venus de Milo is considered the classical epitome of female beauty.

You can also see another masterwork, Sleeping Hermaphrodite , a mythological merger of a male and female body. The ancient sculpture was discovered in Rome near the Baths of Diocletian.

Cardinal Scipione Borghese commissioned the Italian sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini to carve the mattress in 1619. He later sold the piece to the French when he was strapped for cash.

READ : The Bernini Trail in Rome

The Egyptian Antiquities are a well loved highlight of the Sully Wing. The collection features the 12 ton Great Sphinx of Tanis, model ships, ancient sculptures, a massive statue of Ramses II, and a sarcophagus room.

The medieval Louvre is also a fascinating place. Originally, the Louvre was a 12th century fortress built by King Philippe Auguste.

The lower levels are all that remain. Archeologists discovered and excavated the underground medieval remains during the construction of I.M. Pei’s pyramid in 1983-85.

You can take a virtual tour of all the Louvre’s Roman Antiquities here , the Venus de Milo here , and the Sleeping Hermaphrodite here . You can take a virtual tour of the famed Egyptian Antiquities here and walk around the Medieval Louvre here .

3. The Richelieu Wing

In Richelieu Wing, you can admire the Louvre’s Mesopotamian Antiquities, Napoleon III’s Second Empire rooms, sculptures, and some amazing Dutch masterpieces.

The Richelieu Wing boasts the spectacular Cour Marly, a spacious glass roofed courtyard.

It’s stuffed with 17th and 18th marble and white stone sculptures, many commissioned by Sun King Louis XIV and Louis XV. There’s also a magnificent Fountain of Diana, dating from 1550.

Perhaps the most famous part of the Richelieu Wing is the Napoleon III apartments. They were built between 1852-57 to accommodate visiting dignitaries. They’re sumptuous.

Crystal chandeliers glitter, gilded furniture gleams, and the ceilings sport beautiful frescos — all set amid red velvet and red drapery. The Rococo state dining room could seat almost 100 people.

You can virtually tour the Cour Puget here and the Cour Marly here . You can take a virtual tour of Napoleon’s Apartments here .

The Richelieu Wing is also home to some unmissable Dutch old master paintings, including:

• Johannes Vermeer, The Lacemaker
• Johannes Vermeer, The Astronomer
• Rembrandt, Bathsheba at Her Bath.
• Hieronymous Bosch, Ship of Fools
• Georges de la Tour, The Cheat with the Ace of Diamonds

From the Louvre’s website, you can see and get an education on The Lacemaker here , Bathsheba here , Ship of Fools here , and The Cheat here .

If you’re a Beyonce fan, her recent music video featured pieces from the Louvre. Now, you can follow the Beyonce Louvre Trail on the Louvre website.

The Louvre is also featuring an Artwork of the Day . If you’re interested in the history of the Louvre, here’s my guide .

Tickets For The Louvre

Naturally, if you decide to visit the Louvre in person, it’s essential to p re-book a skip the line ticket . If you take your art seriously, you may want to  book a guided tour .

I hope you’ve enjoyed my guide to taking a virtual tour of the Louvre. You may enjoy these other Paris travel guides:

• 3 day itinerary for Paris
• 3 day art weekend in Paris
• 5 day itinerary for Paris
• Hidden gems in Paris
• Guide to the Latin Quarter
• Guide to Montmartre
• Best museums in Paris
• Monet guide to Paris
• Louvre survival Tips
• Tourist traps to skip in Paris
• Guide to the Musee d’Orsay

If you’d like to take a virtual tour of the Louvre from home, pin it or later.

1 thought on “How To Virtually Tour of Paris’ Louvre & See Every Masterpiece”

Good day. I was wondering if you would recommend the Louvre at night . Is there a significant difference in terms of avoiding crowds, the lighting for pics and access to different wings?

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Last Updated on January 20, 2024 by Leslie Livingston

The Mona Lisa in virtual reality in your own home

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23 February 2021

‘Mona Lisa: Beyond the Glass’ – the Louvre’s first virtual reality project – uses the latest scientific research on Leonardo da Vinci, his creative processes and his painting techniques.

The first VR experience of the Mona Lisa

When a painting is as famous as the Mona Lisa, how can you engage with it on a personal level – get through the barrier of fame to discover its inner secrets? This VR experience is a means of doing just that. ‘The Mona Lisa is fated never to be seen again the way she should be, i.e. face to face. That’s the price of success; like any celebrity, as soon as she appears, everyone wants to see her!’ says Vincent Delieuvin, co-curator of the 2020 Leonardo da Vinci show.

This immersive VR experience, part of the Leonardo da Vinci exhibition in 2020, is also available on smartphone.  

' Like any celebrity, as soon as she appears, everyone wants to see her! '

Vincent Delieuvin

The woman behind the painting

What remains to be said about the Mona Lisa? How can we move beyond the myths about this ultra-famous artwork? ‘Mona Lisa: Beyond the Glass’ sets out to dispel the folklore and tell the real story. This eight-minute VR experience is based on the knowledge compiled by exhibition curators Louis Frank and Vincent Delieuvin after a decade of research in preparation for the landmark 2020 exhibition. 

The experience begins in the Salle des États in today’s Louvre, face to face with the painting of the Mona Lisa. It then takes us on a journey back in time to the original setting, where we meet the real woman da Vinci painted! Mona Lisa – or Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Francesco del Giocondo – comes to life, and shows us how her outfit was made, how her hair was styled... 

The secrets of ‘sfumato’

Leonardo da Vinci used some specific techniques that have contributed to his fame but are not necessarily understood. The VR experience gives a detailed view of his painting processes and shows how they brought his work to life. We also find ourselves in the loggia where Mona Lisa might have been sitting when she was painted. ‘We took our inspiration for the loggia from a drawing by Leonardo, an extraordinary villa with a belvedere [and placed it] above the large landscape in the painting. And a surprise awaits you at the end!’ says Louis Frank, co-curator of the Leonardo da Vinci exhibition in 2020.

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Take a Long Virtual Tour of the Louvre in Three High-Definition Videos

in Art | April 16th, 2020 2 Comments

So, you’ve had to put off a trip to Paris, and a long-await­ed vis­it to the Lou­vre , which “will remain closed until fur­ther notice,” has been pushed into the indef­i­nite hori­zon. It could be worse, but the loss of engag­ing up close with cul­tur­al trea­sures is some­thing we should all grieve in lock­down. Art is so impor­tant to human well-being that UK Sec­re­tary of Health Matt Han­cock argued all doc­tors in the NHS should pre­scribe gallery vis­its and oth­er art activ­i­ties for every­thing from men­tal issues to lung dis­eases.

As you know from plan­ning your trip (ide­al­ly sev­er­al trips) to the famous museum—first opened to the pub­lic in 1793 on the first anniver­sary of Louis XVI’s imprisonment—you can lux­u­ri­ate in art for days on end once there, pro­vid­ed you can evade the mas­sive crowds.

The Lou­vre is immense, with 60,500 square meters of floor space and around 35,000 paint­ings, sculp­tures, and oth­er arti­facts. But with rough­ly 10 mil­lion vis­i­tors per year, who make it the world’s most vis­it­ed muse­um, it isn’t easy to find space for con­tem­pla­tion.

Video vis­its are no sub­sti­tute, but these days they’re the best we’ve got. If you’re eager to see what you’re missing—or what you could nev­er get to in per­son even with­out a pandemic—take a look at the 4K vir­tu­al tours here from Wan­der­lust Trav­el Videos. Yes, you’ll see the hero­ic mas­ter­works of Jacques-Louis David, Eugene Delacroix, and Théodore Géri­cault. You’ll see the famous glass pyra­mid, the trea­sures of Napoleon’s Apart­ments, and, yes, the Mona Lisa .

But you’ll also see hun­dreds and hun­dreds of works that don’t get the same kind of press, each one named in a time­stamped list on the YouTube pages. The expe­ri­ence is admit­ted­ly like vis­it­ing the muse­um in per­son, rush­ing through each gallery, peer­ing over and around the backs of heads to get a glimpse of the Fra Fil­ip­po Lip­pis, Cimabues, and Man­teg­nas. But you can mute the con­stant back­ground chat­ter and pause and rewind as much as you like.

After tour­ing a good bit of the muse­um, stroll around the Car­rousel Arc de Tri­om­phe, Jardin de l’infante, and the Pont Neuf, above. Judg­ing by the com­ments, these videos are prov­ing a balm to the psy­ches of home­bound art lovers around the world, whether they’ve been to the Lou­vre before, just scrapped their trav­el plans, or know they’ll prob­a­bly nev­er get the chance to vis­it.

The vir­tu­al oppor­tu­ni­ty to tour this mag­nif­i­cent col­lec­tion, or part of it, may refresh our exhaust­ed imag­i­na­tions. It may also soothe the part of us that real­ly miss­es huge crowds of peo­ple all talk­ing at once. Some­thing about the expe­ri­ence, even on the screen, feels so strange­ly com­pelling right now you might find your­self hop­ing if and when you final­ly get to the Lou­vre, it’s sim­ply mobbed.

Relat­ed Con­tent:

Mona Lisa Self­ie: A Mon­tage of Social Media Pho­tos Tak­en at the Lou­vre and Put on Insta­gram

Take a Vir­tu­al Tour of 30 World-Class Muse­ums & Safe­ly Vis­it 2 Mil­lion Works of Fine Art

Vis­it The Muse­um of Online Muse­ums (MoOM): A Mega Col­lec­tion of 220 Online Exhi­bi­tions

Josh Jones  is a writer and musi­cian based in Durham, NC. Fol­low him at  @jdmagness

by Josh Jones | Permalink | Comments (2) |

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Comments (2), 2 comments so far.

This is noth­ing but video from someone’s GoPro cam­era. Some­one that space Spends even less time admir­ing the art than the museum’s typ­i­cal guest !!!!

Sans aucun com­men­taire?!

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Not Heading To Paris This Summer? The Louvre Has Digitized 482,000 Artworks

The Apollon Gallery at the Louvre museum in Paris on Jan. 14, 2020. Stephanie de Sakutin/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

The Apollon Gallery at the Louvre museum in Paris on Jan. 14, 2020.

One of the world's most massive museums has announced an encompassing digitization of its vast collection.

"The Louvre is dusting off its treasures, even the least-known," said Jean-Luc Martinez, President-Director of the Musée du Louvre, in a statement on Friday . "For the first time, anyone can access the entire collection of works from a computer or smartphone for free, whether they are on display in the museum, on loan, even long-term, or in storage."

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Some of this is hyperbole. The entire collection is so huge, no one even knows how big it is. The Louvre's official release estimates about 482,000 works have been digitized in its collections database , representing about three quarters of the entire archive. (The museum's recently revamped homepage is designed for more casual visitors, especially those on cellphones, with translations in Spanish, English and Chinese.)

"It's just overwhelming," says Andrew McClellan, a Tufts University professor and author of Inventing the Louvre: Art, Politics and the Origins of the Modern Museum . The strategy of putting nearly everything online is in keeping with the Enlightenment ideals that shaped the museum after the French Revolution, he says: "collecting the world's knowledge together under one roof, and then making it available for researchers and the general public."

Major institutions have been digitizing their collections for many years, but the Louvre's online archives required especially exhaustive labor. Every image, according to the museum, is accompanied with scientific data: "title, artist, inventory number, dimensions, materials and techniques, date and place of production, object history, current location and bibliography. ... These documentary entries, drawn up by museum curators and researchers, come from two museum collection databases, and are updated on a daily basis."

Given the expense of running those databases, McClellan and other observers have wondered whether the Louvre may find ways to monetize some of these images, and whether the online collection will affect real-life attendance. ( " I am sure that this digital content is going to further inspire people to come to the Louvre to discover the collections in person," the museum's director said in his statement.)

'The Louvre Is Suffocating': Museum Closed As Workers Strike, Citing Overcrowding

It's also unclear how many of the online images may be of sacred objects, from countries other than France, and not meant to be casually viewed. The digital catalog includes items that may have been plundered — by Nazis or colonial forces — in a separate album titled "MNR" works , which stands for Musées Nationaux Récupération, or National Museums Recovery.

"This has to be coming up against these questions around restitution and repatriation and thinking about what the digitization of cultural heritage means within a context that is contested," observes Suse Anderson, a professor of Museum Studies at George Washington University , who studies the impact of digital technology on museums. She's generally impressed, she says, by the Louvre's online expansion, especially since it steers visitors beyond the obvious marquee works of art such as the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo .

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"I'm a serendipitous browser," she says. "I'm not the person seeking the hero works. They're so easy to find. I'm the person who wants to find the unexpected."

Like the actual museum, the Louvre's online collection provides pathways towards new discoveries, Anderson says. "It helps you see things you might not otherwise. It helps you find surprises. And that's where I think you often get the connection to your own life, is when you find something that resonates, that isn't the thing you went looking for."

And online, you can ... Louvre ... the jostling crowds of tourists far behind.

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• Highlights of the Louvre
• Paris' the Louvre

Highlights of the Louvres

If a tour is fully booked, or you are looking to book a *Group or Private Tour - please email us about Group & Private Tours options.

*Please note - Group & Private Tours are specifically organised for your group and therefore subject to a premium price. Flat fee rate applies for groups of 6 and under.

Learn why nature is a key theme in Guadi’s work, art and architecture. With our tour, you will be able to discover the Louvre, world's most visited, and far largest museum. During our unique and unforgettable tour you will learn about main highlights of its history, allway from the first construction period, to a castle, and from there to today's home of more than 38’000 exceptional pieces of art.

• Our expert guide will take you inside the famous Louvre Museum and tell you all about its marvelous gems.
• You will learn how these incredible pieces of art ended up in the Louvre museum and will discover all their hidden mysteries.
• You will be sharing a unique live online experience with people from all over the world and will be able to interact personally with our expert guide.
• Accessible from wherever you are, this is the most convenient “travelling” experience you ever had !
• Receive a $10 voucher for Secret Food Tours with every online tour you buy.

In the beginning the Louvre was only a simple 12th century fortress which was originally built to protect King Philip the 2nd. Later on the Royal palace was built above it. Even today the foundations of the building which we now know as the Museum of Louvres, the home of the most exquisite pieces of art, hides the remains of this fortress.

During your online experience, our expert guide will take you inside the museum and will explain in detail the transformation of the museum from fortress to the art galleries of the present date. You will learn about turning points of French history through the display of some of the most famous works of art in the world.

You will get a chance to discover the ancient statue of Venus de Milo. Famous for being the symbol of beauty, love and elegance, she indeed still has an important part in the present-day culture. You will find out about the secrets behind her tremendously beautiful figure, why she is depicted as the best example of Greek sculpture and also why this sculpture ended up being called the “Venus de Milo”.

Among other famous pieces of art you will discover the Winged Victory of Samothrace. Our guide will tell you about its origins and the controversy around it. Which other artists it has inspired during the time, and most importantly, what happened to it in the end of the 1930’s. All of this, with the Winged Victory in your full view, without being bothered by the usual crowd packed around it.

Futheralong, our guide will take you to other famous masterpieces before taking you to the highlight of the tour, the Leornardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, probably the most famous art piece in the world, that attracts nearly 6 million visitors yearly. You will be able to spend a moment of contemplation in the front of this wonderful painting while learning more about its fascinating and mysterious story.

This most immersive experience will bring you inside the magnificent Louvre Museum, where you will discover the most impressive collection of works of art while traveling through one beautiful historical royal room after another.

With any online tour, you'll also receive a $10 gift voucher which you can use to book any Secret Food Tour, valid for 2 years!

All times specified are in Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)

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The Fall of Rome

As soon as you book your tour, we’ll email you all the details including the date and time for your virtual experience. All tours are conducted using Zoom . The email will include a direct link to join the live experience at the speculated time and date.

Even though your camera doesn’t need to be on during the tour, our guides appreciate interacting with participants so feel free to switch it on and talk to our guides.

Please note you can join the tour at any point in time. If you are running late, you can join when you can but please note these tours are non-refundable.

All of the experiences are live and the guides will not be able to pause the tours if you need to leave for a few minutes

Please utilize the “Chat” section of your Zoom dashboard to ask the Coordinator a question and at the time-frame for Q&A with the Guide, the Coordinator will select questions sent in by guests to ask our Guide. 

You are unable to share your link past the number of passengers you have booked for. If you purchase multiple passengers for one tour you will be able to share your link with them by forwarding the booking confirmation email.

All of the tours are non-refundable. You may reschedule your tour provided you offer a 96 hours’ notice.

If the cancellation is our own fault, you will be offered to reschedule your tour, or a voucher for equal credit or alternative a refund.

All tours are conducted using Zoom . The email will include a direct link to join the live experience at the speculated time and date.

Before joining the tour, you will need to have installed Zoom on the device you will be using. To check your requirements you can go directly to this website .

If you joined a cooking lesson or any other experiences that may involve the preparation of food or drinks, you will receive an email with all the recipes discussed during your tour. You will also receive a link that links to our Trip Advisor page so you can review the experience.

For the Italian Cooking Classes, you will receive a PDF with recipes for the classes. Please note that the pasta and sauce selections will vary depending on ingredients available to our Chefs with unpredictable grocery availability during this time.

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Louvre Virtual Tour Part One: From Medieval Fortress to Royal Residence

Discover the fascinating story of the Louvre through its masterpieces with our virtual tour

• tour overview
• tour description
• tour reviews

duration 1.5 hours

Tour Overview

No art gallery on earth can quite measure up to the extraordinary Louvre - a jaw-dropping sequence of palaces and echoing halls housing tens of thousands of wonderful artworks, from ancient artefacts to the most iconic paintings of the Renaissance and beyond. In the company of expert guide Thomas, we’ll be tracing the long and complex story of the Louvre itself - from imposing medieval fortress to royal palace to the massive people’s art gallery we know today. The history of the Louvre tells the story of France itself, and our virtual tour will trace the profound links between art and history as told by the extraordinary gallery’s most spectacular artworks. Part one of our Louvre Virtual Tour traces the story of the gallery from its origins in the 1200s through to 1600, taking in masterpieces like Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa along the way. Be sure to pair your tour with part two, where we'll be following the story through to the present day! If the day of the week or start time of this group tour doesn't work for you, please email us at [email protected] to arrange a suitable alternative date.

• A history of the Louvre, as told by the artworks housed inside
• Expert English-speaking licensed guide
• Interactive Q and A with Thomas

Tour Description

Meet your guide: thomas.

Hi, I’m Thomas. A native of Florida, I studied History in the United States and France, Art History in France and Italy, and Archaeology in Italy. I am one of four brothers, one of many Tolkien fans, and one of very few native English-speaking licensed tour guides in Rome, where I have lived and worked with Through Eternity Tours since 2006. My particular interests are medieval history, Baroque painting, pork products, tasty cakes, and full-figured red wines. I speak English, French, Italian, a smattering of Spanish, and a few German swear words.

What Exactly is a Through Eternity Virtual Tour?   

The world of travel might be on hold right now, but just because we're all staying at home to help the world overcome a common enemy doesn't mean we have to put our wanderlust on the back burner. Frustrated with not being able to get our travel fix, we decided to transform our award-winning tours into immersive virtual experiences, meaning you can still explore Italy’s spectacular archaeological sites and jaw-dropping museums from the comfort of your own home. 

* Please note that the booking times are in US Eastern Standard Time and Rome, Italy CET is 6 hours ahead *  

Fun and informative , our virtual tours take the form of online  real-time presentations  led by our  expert guides . Combining videos, high-definition photos and more, our guides will be sharing their wealth of knowledge and experience with you on these interactive walkthroughs of Italy’s most fascinating sites. The  live format  of our virtual tours means you’ll be able to ask your guide anything you wish, just like on a normal tour. We really believe it's the next best thing to being here!

As a sign of our gratitude to those who are on the front line fighting the Coronavirus, we would be more than happy to invite all  first responders ,  health workers  and  NHS workers  to join our Virtual Tours for free. Please message our office staff directly!

Please note that the proceeds from our online tours go directly to our guides, providing them with a valuable lifeline in these tough times for the world of travel. Thank you for your support!  

Tour Reviews

5.0 (8 reviews)

A very good presentation, lots of information and history with fun facts. Thomas was engagnig and we would recommend him to others. We hope to catch part two sometime soon.

Vincent - May 10, 2021

Thomas has done it again with a tour that is jam-packed with historical information, creativity, and laughter. I knew very little about this time period and have become so fascinated by it. Thomas is so enthusiastic when he speaks....has so much energy and truly captivates his audience. There is plenty of opportunity for questions and conversation after the tour. I'd highly recommend!

Stephanie - Feb 21, 2021

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Take a virtual tour of the some of the world's greatest museums and heritage sites., virtual tour, explore panoramic views of famous sites in 360˚ street view tours..

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Explore > Destinations > Paris > Virtual Tours of Paris: From the Louvre to the Catacombs

Virtual Tours of Paris: From the Louvre to the Catacombs

Longing to visit Paris but can’t travel right now? Then don a beret, get cozy on your couch, and take off on a virtual tour of Paris. Take in the City of Light from the top of the Eiffel Tower and admire masterpieces on a virtual tour of the Louvre.

Whether you’re in the mood to wander through the dark corridors of the Paris Catacombs over video chat with a local or zoom over to the Palace of Versailles, these virtual tours can bring the wonders of Paris to you. The City of Love is waiting for you—just one click away.

Louvre Virtual Tour with a Guide

It’s easy to get lost in the world’s largest art museum, even on a virtual visit. So, go on a live guided virtual tour of the Louvre to see all the highlights. Don’t miss the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and Winged Victory. Plus, discover interesting artifacts that you might otherwise miss.

Over the live video call, hear the stories behind these famous works of art, find out Napoleon’s connection to the Louvre, and learn how a castle became home to these masterpieces in Paris.

Notre Dame and Eiffel Tower Virtual Tour

Explore the top sights of Paris on a virtual tour of the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame . Over video chat, your guide takes you to the top of the Eiffel Tower for a gorgeous view of the City of Love. Then, head to Notre Dame to learn what makes this cathedral so special. Take in its iconic gargoyles, hear about the tragic fire in 2019 and the plans for restoration, and see more of it than you could if you were physically in Paris. Next, virtually stroll the romantic streets of the Latin Quarter and Montmartre where artists and writers have fallen in love with Paris for decades.

Catacombs of Paris Virtual Tour

Imagine the dank chilly air sending a shiver down your spine as you descend below the City of Light and into the Empire of the Dead. Artfully arranged human bones line the walls for 200 macabre miles. On a virtual tour of the Paris Catacombs led by a local guide, find out how these spooky tunnels came to be and why Paris would be in ruins without them. Are you brave enough to go on this creepy online adventure?

Versailles Online with an Expert Guide

Visiting the opulent Palace of Versailles is one of the most popular day trips from Paris. So, join a local historian guide for an interactive virtual tour of Versailles using video chat. See the historic Hall of Mirrors and the Grand Apartments where the King of France once slept. Then, take a relaxing stroll through Versailles’ manicured gardens, stopping to admire impressive fountains tucked among the topiaries. All the while, chat with your guide about King Louis XIV, Marie Antionette, and the French Revolution.

Virtual Walking Tour of Paris with an Interactive Guide

Connect with a local Parisian guide over video chat for a virtual walking tour of Paris . As your guide takes you to their favorite places in the city, meet fellow virtual travelers from around the world. Discover the proper way to order at a French bakery and how to have a true Parisian picnic. While learning about French language and culture, hear stories about the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, and the Louvre. This interactive Paris virtual tour is as close as you can get to the City of Light without leaving your couch.

Virtual Tour of the Basilica of Sacré-Cœur

This panoramic virtual tour of the Basilica of Sacré-Cœur immerses you in 360-degree views of this beautiful Paris landmark. Before you enter the building, virtually climb the 270 steps up the hill of Montmarte and soak in the beautiful view of Paris. Listen to a recorded audio guide tell you about the Basilica from the magnificent mosaics decorating the Chancel to the top of the Campanile. As you click around the building, you can even hear the Grand Organ and Campanile bells.

Opéra National de Paris and Museum of Music

Take a virtual tour of the Paris opera house that inspired The Phantom of the Opera . Look up from your seat in the audience and admire the Chagall painted dome on this 360-degree virtual tour of the elegant Palais Garnier . Then, wander backstage and even down to the mysterious lake below the opera house. Expand your appreciation of music with a virtual trip to the Museum of Music in Paris . See instruments played by famous composers, such as a piano that belonged to Chopin, as well as over 1,000 other instruments.

Musée d’Orsay and Musée de l’Orangerie

After your virtual tour of the Louvre, continue your art education by exploring the Musée d’Orsay and Musée de l’Orangerie. Wander the largest collection of impressionist and post-Impressionist artwork in the world on your virtual tour of Musée d’Orsay . Admire works by Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, Seurat, Sisley, Gauguin, and Van Gogh. Then, virtually stand in awe in front of Monet’s massive water lily paintings in the nearby Musée de l’Orangerie , which was purpose-built to display these masterpieces.

Army Museum and Les Invalides Virtual Tours in Paris

See the tomb of Napoleon, one of France’s greatest military leaders, and one of the finest collections of military history in the world at Les Invalides and the Army Museum. You can practically touch Napoleon Bonaparte’s red tomb with this 360-degree panoramic virtual tour of Les Invalides .

Explore the collection of the Musée de l’Armée (Army Museum) online , which includes medieval suits of armor, Napoleon’s pistols, and an Enigma encryption machine from WWII. This is certainly a must-see for any history buff on a virtual tour of Paris.

After your virtual tours of Paris, continue your European adventure with a virtual trip to London or Rome . Why limit yourself? Explore these virtual tours and experiences around the world

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The World’s First Entirely Virtual Art Museum Is Open for Visitors

VOMA—the Virtual Online Museum of Art—is a free and fully immersive art experience

Jennifer Nalewicki

Travel Correspondent

As museums have been forced to close their doors in the midst of Covid-19, many of these cultural institutions have proven just how nimble they can be, temporarily shifting their exhibitions from in-person events to online-only experiences. However, one museum in particular is waging its bets that virtual programming will be the new way of presenting art to a wide audience.

Launched just last week, the Virtual Online Museum of Art (VOMA) is the world’s first museum of its kind. More than just an online gallery, VOMA is 100 percent virtual, from the paintings and drawings hanging on the walls to the museum’s computer-generated building itself, giving viewers an entirely new way of experiencing art that transports them to an art space without having to leave their computers.

The idea for VOMA came about during the early stages of the internet—1999 to be exact—when Stuart Semple, the museum’s creator and an artist himself, dreamt up the concept to create an online museum. “When I was a teenager, I decided to make an online gallery,” Semple says, quickly admitting that the idea soon failed, chalking it up to the fact that his vision was a little bit too early for its time. Plus, back in the late '90s virtual technology was nothing like it is today.

Born in Bournemouth, England, Semple grew up having an eye for art. He studied fine arts at Bretton Hall College at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and built a successful career as an artist, showing his body of work, which contains paintings, drawings, multimedia and print, in 15 international solo exhibitions and more than 40 group shows . Now, at the age of 40, he's shifting his focus back to where he started 20 years ago by giving hi s idea for a virtual museum a second go.

“I was thinking about how art should be accessible online, but was disappointed with what I was seeing,” he says. “Because of Covid-19, I was seeing artwork grabbing onto tech in different ways, like taking a virtual walk in a park. I started thinking about putting my original idea back out there. And with CGI, I can make an experience you can live right now.”

This isn’t the first time one of Semple’s wild ideas has made headlines. In 2016, he made waves by creating a paint pigment dubbed “the world’s pinkest pink.” Teaming up with Emily Mann, an architect, and Lee Cavaliere, an art consultant and former curator of the London Art Fair, the trio built VOMA from the ground up in about six months’ time with the help of a team of programmers, architects and video game designers.

“We were seeing all these museums uploading their offerings to digital spaces, such as the [ Google Arts & Culture project],” he says. “I don’t want to be rude, but it didn’t feel like it was really there. I’d be looking at a Monet and the head would be chopped off. I was inspired, because I think we could do better.”

The result is a cultural experience unlike anything else online today. VOMA's creating some media buzz, with Cat Olley of Elle Decoration describing it as a space with “ a grounded, familiar feel ” that can “ hold [its] own alongside conventional cultural centers. ” Gabrielle Leung of Hypebeast commends VOMA for “not only [addressing] the problems of attending museums with social distancing measures in place, but also more complex issues about who has access to major cultural institutions in the first place.”

Visiting VOMA is simple. First viewers must install the free VOMA program onto their computers. From there, they can explore two galleries featuring works by nearly two dozen artists, including Henri Matisse, Édouard Manet, Li Wei, Paula Rego, Luiz Zerbini, Lygia Clark, Jasper Johns and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Cavaliere, the museum’s director and curator, worked closely with some of the world’s most prestigious museums, such as the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. Using high-res images provided by each institution, the VOMA team made 3-D reproductions of each piece. “We don't need to transport any paintings [on loan],” Semple says. “We're literally taking the photos and using computers to create 3-D reproductions, which adds in depth and lets viewers see [the reproduction] from all angles.”

The result is a 360-degree, fully immersive experience that lets museumgoers get as close as they want to, say, Manet’s Olympia or Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights . Using a computer's arrow buttons, a visitor can virtually “walk” around the museum, zooming in on different works of art. The user-friendly setup feels much like a computer game.

VOMA is one of the latest examples of how museum content is going digital, joining the likes of other popular sites and apps like Smartify . Dubbed the “Shazam for the art world,” Smartify offers free audio tours from a database of more than two million artworks from some of the world's most esteemed museums and cultural institutions. Anna Lowe, the app's co-founder, says that being able to access art digitally is important, especially when it comes to reaching a global audience.

“ The advantage of something like VOMA or [other virtual museum experiences] is the reach and engagement you can have with a global audience, ” Lowe says. “ But I think the key thing about physical museums, and the main reason that people go to museums, isn't for a learning experience, but to be social. I think that's the biggest challenge for [virtual visits] is how do you move people through a space without it feeling like you're just scrolling through a site. ”

This point is one of the things that VOMA's creative team took into account when building its user experience, making it as lifelike as possible.

“[VOMA’s] zoom functionality is crazy,” Semple says. “Normally, you can’t get your nose right up to the canvas, because there’s a line of tape and a security guard watching you. We recreate each artwork so that it’s 3-D. You can look around and see the sides of each work, which you can’t do [in other online art galleries].”

Not only are the displays interactive and provide in-depth information about each artwork, but the museum building and its waterfront surroundings change.

“[Architect Emily Mann] built VOMA so that the museum experience changes depending on the weather and the time of day,” he says. “VOMA is her vision of what a space for an art museum should look like. Every single tree leaf she created from scratch, and the light of each gallery changes throughout the day and plays into the space. It’s fantasy, but it’s also real.”

Another aspect that makes VOMA stand out from other museums is its mission to be more inclusive. While many museums have been accused of a severe lack in representation of work by women and BIPOC artists, VOMA intends to feature a diverse group of artists on a regular basis.

“We want to highlight voices that haven’t been heard and seen,” he says. “We are featuring artists from around the world, and not just Western artists.”

As the months progress, VOMA plans to open additional galleries to help accommodate such a diversity of artists. The museum, which boasts a permanent collection of more than 20 works, will also feature temporary exhibitions, such as the current “ Degenerate Art ,” which, according to the museum, “is a recreation of an exhibition held by the Nazis in Munich in 1937 denouncing the work of ‘degenerate’ artists.” It features pieces by Otto Dix, George Grosz and Max Beckmann, to name a few, shining a light on the lingering effects of oppression in the art world.

VOMA’s new take on the art experience has proven so popular that, during the September 4 launch, the website’s servers completely crashed while the first visitors tried “entering” the museum.

“At one point there were over 130,000 people trying to access it at the same time,” Semple says, “and we had to make the sad decision to take it down.”

Luckily, the kinks were worked out and VOMA is up and running again.

Semple believes that VOMA is just a taste of the future of art museums. “We are at an unprecedented moment in time,” he writes on VOMA's Kickstarter page. “Due to [Covid-19], we have seen the art world have to adjust, and as a result, we are able to enjoy online viewing rooms, zoom visits to artist studios and see a plethora of museums bringing images of their collections to their websites.” While he admits these changes have been exciting, Semple feels the need for a whole new kind of museum—“one that is born digitally,” he adds.

“VOMA has been designed from the ground up to work in a digital future,” he writes. “A future that is open and accessible to all.”

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Jennifer Nalewicki | | READ MORE

Jennifer Nalewicki is a Brooklyn-based journalist. Her articles have been published in The New York Times , Scientific American , Popular Mechanics , United Hemispheres and more. You can find more of her work at her website .

Virtual tours of the National Gallery

Wherever you are in the world, take a tour of the National Gallery.

Our virtual tours allow you to step inside the Gallery and explore one of the greatest collections of paintings, from the comfort of your home.

Experience the Gallery in virtual reality through your desktop, phone or VR headset.

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Visit a virtual space showing a selection of paintings chosen and narrated by our Director, Dr Gabriele Finaldi.

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Fit for a Queen virtual exhibition

Visit our virtual gallery of 28 paintings which celebrates Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

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Fruits of the Spirit virtual exhibition

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Immerse yourself in the world of Gossaert’s masterpiece and its awe-inspiring intricate detail.

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Google virtual tour

Take a tour of some of our Renaissance masterpieces with Google

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