Architect, I M Pei, discusses the design brief for his pyramid entrance to the Louvre.

The pyramid at the Louvre

The Louvre was designed to house a great art collection for the people of France. Was there a plan from the outset to build a canon of work where the relationships between artists, their origins, their schools and faiths could be traced across centuries? And how did architect I.M.Pei persuade President Mitterrand to allow a pyramid to be built at the Louvre? The album goes on to explore how architecture can reflect relationships between different traditions. Two great buildings, Palladio’s church of the Redentore in Venice and Sinan’s Sokullu Mehmet Pasha mosque in Istanbul illustrate shared approaches to the purpose for which the spaces were designed. This material is taken from The Open University course A216 Art and its histories.

Share The pyramid at the Louvre

Sign up to save your podcasts

The pyramid at the Louvre

The pyramid at the Louvre

More shows like Art and architecture - for iPad/Mac/PC

Bon départ: beginners' French - Audio

Encouraging book talk in the school library - for iBooks

Moons of the Solar System - for iPod/iPhone

Start writing essays - Audio

Beginners’ Chinese - Audio

Rundblick: beginners' German - Audio

Critical Social Psychology - for iPod/iPhone

Andante: beginners' Italian - Audio

Environmental Ethics - for iPad/Mac/PC

The history of medicine: a Scottish perspective - for iBooks