Editing I. M. Pei (section)

=== Grand Louvre, Paris ===
{{main|Grand Louvre}}
[[File:Paris 75001 Cour Napoléon Louvre Aile Turgot 02a.jpg|thumb|alt=The Louvre museum, a classical building with ornamentation on its facade, rises above a small crowd. Rounded archways line the front of the structure.|Pei was acutely aware, as he said, that "the history of Paris was embedded in the stones of the Louvre."<ref name="Boehm, p. 84">Boehm, p. 84.</ref>]]

When [[François Mitterrand]] was elected President of France in 1981, he laid out an ambitious plan for a variety of construction projects. One of these was the renovation of the [[Louvre]]. Mitterrand appointed a civil servant named {{ill|Émile Biasini|fr}} to oversee it. After visiting museums in Europe and the United States, including the U.S. National Gallery, he asked Pei to join the team. The architect made three secretive trips to Paris, to determine the feasibility of the project; only one museum employee knew why he was there.<ref>Wiseman, p. 233; Boehm, p. 77.</ref> Pei finally agreed that a new construction project was not only possible, but necessary for the future of the museum. He thus became the first foreign architect to work on the Louvre.<ref>Wiseman, p. 234.</ref>

The heart of the new design included not only a renovation of the [[Cour Napoléon]] in the midst of the buildings, but also a transformation of the interiors. Pei proposed a central entrance, not unlike the lobby of the National Gallery East Building, which would link the three major wings around the central space. Below would be a complex of additional floors for research, storage, and maintenance purposes. At the center of the courtyard he designed a [[Louvre Pyramid|glass and steel pyramid]], first proposed with the Kennedy Library, to serve as entrance and anteroom skylight. It was mirrored by an [[Pyramide Inversée|inverted pyramid]] to the west, to reflect sunlight into the complex. These designs were partly an homage to the fastidious geometry of the French landscape architect [[André Le Nôtre]].<ref>Wiseman, pp. 235–236.</ref> Pei also found the pyramid shape best suited for stable transparency, and considered it "most compatible with the architecture of the Louvre, especially with the faceted planes of its roofs".<ref name="Boehm, p. 84" />

Biasini and Mitterrand liked the plans, but the scope of the renovation displeased Louvre administrator André Chabaud. He resigned from his post, complaining that the project was "unfeasible" and posed "architectural risks".<ref>Quoted in Wiseman, p. 240.</ref> Some sections of the French public also reacted harshly to the design, mostly because of the proposed pyramid.<ref>Wiseman, pp. 249–250.</ref> One critic called it a "gigantic, ruinous gadget";<ref name="w249">Quoted in Wiseman, p. 249.</ref> another charged Mitterrand with "despotism" for inflicting Paris with the "atrocity".<ref name="w249" /> Pei estimated that 90&nbsp;percent of Parisians opposed his design. "I received many angry glances in the streets of Paris," he said.<ref>Boehm, p. 80.</ref> Some condemnations carried [[nationalism|nationalistic]] overtones. One opponent wrote: "I am surprised that one would go looking for a Chinese architect in America to deal with the historic heart of the capital of France."<ref>Quoted in Wiseman, p. 250.</ref>

[[File:Louvre Museum Wikimedia Commons.jpg|thumb|left|alt=The Louvre pyramid, a gray structure, sits in the center of a courtyard, surrounded by ancient buildings.|Pei decided that a pyramid was "most compatible" with the other structures at the Louvre, complementing their roofs' faceted planes.<ref name="Boehm, p. 84" />]]
Soon, however, Pei and his team won the support of several key cultural icons, including the conductor [[Pierre Boulez]] and [[Claude Pompidou]], widow of former French President [[Georges Pompidou]], after whom the similarly controversial [[Centre Georges Pompidou]] was named. In an attempt to soothe public ire, Pei took a suggestion from then-mayor of Paris [[Jacques Chirac]] and placed a full-sized cable model of the pyramid in the courtyard. During the four days of its exhibition, an estimated 60,000&nbsp;people visited the site. Some critics eased their opposition after witnessing the proposed scale of the pyramid.<ref>Wiseman, pp. 251–252.</ref>

Pei demanded a method of glass production that resulted in clear panes. The pyramid was constructed at the same time as the subterranean levels below, which caused difficulties during the building stages. As they worked, construction teams came upon an abandoned set of rooms containing 25,000&nbsp;historical items; these were incorporated into the rest of the structure to add a new exhibition zone.<ref>Wiseman, p. 257.</ref>

The new [[Cour Napoléon]] was opened to the public on October 14, 1988, and the Pyramid entrance was opened the following March. By this time, public opposition had softened; a poll found a 56 percent approval rating for the pyramid, with 23 percent still opposed. The newspaper ''[[Le Figaro]]'' had vehemently criticized Pei's design, but later celebrated the tenth anniversary of its magazine supplement at the pyramid.<ref name="w255">Wiseman, pp. 255–259.</ref> [[Charles III of the United Kingdom|Prince Charles]] of Britain surveyed the new site with curiosity, and declared it "marvelous, very exciting".<ref name="w259">Quoted in Wiseman, p. 259.</ref> A writer in ''[[Le Quotidien de Paris]]'' wrote: "The much-feared pyramid has become adorable."<ref name="w259" />

The experience was exhausting for Pei, but also rewarding. "After the Louvre," he said later, "I thought no project would be too difficult."<ref>Boehm, p. 90.</ref>  The pyramid achieved further widespread international recognition for its central role in the plot at the denouement of ''[[The Da Vinci Code]]'' by [[Dan Brown]] and its appearance in the final scene of the subsequent [[The Da Vinci Code (film)|screen adaptation]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.louvre.fr/en/routes/da-vinci-code|title=Visitor trails : The Da Vinci Code: Between Fiction and Fact – Louvre Museum – Paris|website=louvre.fr}}</ref> The ''[[Louvre Pyramid]]'' became Pei's most famous structure.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ching|first=Francis|author2=Jarxombek, Mark|others=Prakash, Vikramaditya|title=A Global History of Architecture|publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Inc|location=New Jersey|year=2007|page=[https://archive.org/details/globalhistoryofa0000chin/page/742 742]|isbn=978-0-471-26892-5|url=https://archive.org/details/globalhistoryofa0000chin/page/742}}</ref>