'Adventures in the Louvre' will teach you how to fall in love with the famous museum

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Books, Arts

4.2 • 672 Ratings

🗓️ 15 April 2025

⏱️ 9 minutes

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Summary

Elaine Sciolino has one mantra: "Never go to the Louvre on an empty stomach or with a full bladder." The former Paris bureau chief of The New York Times has written a guide filled with her best advice for enjoying the world's most-visited museum. Her new book, Adventures in the Louvre, is part journalism, part memoir and part art history. In today's episode, Sciolino speaks with NPR's Mary Louise Kelly about the contested origins of the museum's name, the staff's love-hate relationship with the Mona Lisa, and why some Louvre visitors might feel underwhelmed.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. I've been to the Louvre in Paris once,
0:07.7	and this is a true story. By the time I got to the Mona Lisa, the alarms started going off,
0:12.8	and the entire building was evacuated, which is to say, I don't think I got the full Louvre experience.
0:20.1	Thankfully, Elaine Sciolino is on the pod today
0:22.3	talking about her book, Adventures in the Louvre, How to Fall in Love with the World's Greatest Museum.
0:27.8	It's a guidebook of sorts on how to tackle the Louvre, but even if you don't have any plans
0:32.3	to visit Paris anytime soon, her general advice works for just about any museum. For instance, she tells NPR's
0:39.1	Mary Louise Kelly, you have to give yourself the freedom to get lost. That's coming up.
0:45.5	In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life. Distant wars, murky
0:51.6	conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors on our new show, Sources and Methods.
0:56.8	NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people, helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.
1:04.4	Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:09.7	A trip to the Louvre is the museum version of a blood sport.
1:14.5	You need to be ready for the fight.
1:16.7	So writes Elaine Shilino in her new book about the Louvre.
1:20.8	Shilino is a former Paris bureau chief for the New York Times,
1:24.2	and the book is part journalism, part memoir, part art history. It is titled
1:29.8	Adventures in the Louvre, How to Fall in Love, with the World's Greatest Museum.
1:35.4	Elaine Chilino is on the line from Paris.
1:37.7	Bonjour, bien-venu. Oh, what a great accent you've got. Gosh, it's better than I still
1:42.6	sound like an American here. Well, you're very, very welcome on all things considered. Gosh, it's better than I still sound like an American here.
1:50.4	Well, you're very, very welcome on all things considered. I have to start. You have all kinds of tips for visiting the Louvre, and I want to dive in there because you instruct us we should
	...

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