The fastest route to Mona Lisa in the Louvre, Paris, exists.
It is possible to see the Mona Lisa with (almost) no one else around. The fastest way, the quickest way to see the Mona Lisa (Gioconda, or LA JOCONDE as the French name her) by Leonardo da Vinci and located in the 1st floor, DENON wing, room 711 / room 8: “LA JOCONDE” in the Louvre Museum, Paris, is shared here, step by step.
With a bit of planning and following these steps, if you wish, you can enjoy your one minute of fame, alone with the Mona Lisa. Then visit the Louvre Museum at your leisure.
Fastest way to the Mona Lisa:
- Buy an online ticket for the Louvre Museum for the 9:00am time slot.
- Be at the Pyramid, main entrance, at 8:30am.
- Choose the GREEN entrance line for e-ticket holders.
- You will enter the Louvre through the Glass Pyramid (ground floor). Escalator takes you down (lower ground floor).
- You will see Information Desk / Information “Musee du Louvre” in front of you. Turn right. Go up the first escalator. (You travel from lower ground floor to ground floor).
- You will see the signs for DENON wing in front of you. Go right. Take the lift ahead of you. Go up to 1st floor – elevator panel is marked with “La Joconde”.
- Out of the elevator, ahead of you, there will be a long hallway with artwork. Look for the signs towards “La Joconde”. Well marked.
- Enter room 711 (or room 8), also known as Salle des États. You are in a small antechamber with paintings.
- There are two doors ahead, left and right. Go further through one of them.
- You will enter a very big space. Ahead you will see the biggest painting in the Louvre, The Wedding Feast at Cana. Turn sideways to face the wooden barrier and see The Mona Lisa, La Joconde, La Gioconda, the Great Lady of the Louvre.
1. Buy an online ticket for the Louvre Museum for the 9:00 am time slot
You can buy your ticket from the Louvre website here. Best a few days in advance. Choose the top option: Individual tickets for the Museum. The cost is 17,00 € per person (2019) – as opposed to 15,00 € if you buy at the Louvre – and, choosing the 9:00am time slot, it will guarantee you entry in the Louvre as soon as it opens – which is:
Musée du Louvre opening hours
Louvre Museum opening hours
Monday: 9 a.m.–6 p.m.
Tuesday: Closed.
Wednesday: 9 a.m.–9:45 p.m.
Thursday: 9 a.m.–6 p.m.
Friday: 9 a.m.–9:45 p.m.
Saturday: 9 a.m.–6 p.m.
Sunday: 9 a.m.–6 p.m.
On the first Saturday of each month, the museum is also open from 6 p.m. to 9:45 p.m. and admission is free for all visitors.
Rooms begin closing at 5:30 p.m., and at 9:30 p.m. on night openings.
Note: Free admission with no ticket (it will NOT guarantee you entry at 9:00am) for: under-18s, under-26s living in the European Economic Area, people with disabilities and the person accompanying them (these DO enter first), and people on income support. On presentation of proof of eligibility, full list on Louvre.fr.
2. Be at the Pyramid, main entrance, at 8:30am.
You might see him:
3. Choose the GREEN entrance line for e-ticket holders.
4. You will enter the Louvre through the Glass Pyramid (ground floor). Escalator takes you down (lower ground floor).
The Glass Pyramid was designed by IM Pei and inaugurated on 1st April 1989!
5. You will see Information Desk / Information “Musee du Louvre” in front of you. Turn right. Go up the first escalator. (You travel from lower ground floor to ground floor).
Same image, from a higher point:
6. You will see the signs for DENON wing in front of you. Go right. Take the lift ahead of you. Go up to 1st floor – elevator panel is marked with “La Joconde”.
Take the elevator ahead of you – sorry about the blurred image, we were in a hurryyyyyy 🙂
The road to La Joconde, the Mona Lisa, is very well marked:
7. Out of the elevator, ahead of you, there will be a long hallway with artwork. Look for the signs towards “La Joconde”. Well marked.
You will first reach Salon Denon. You want to walk through the door that is opposite the windows.
8. Enter room 711 (or room 8), also known as Salle des États . You are in a small antechamber with paintings:
9. There are two doors ahead, left and right. Go further through one of them.
On the far wall you see The Wedding Feats at Cana by Veronese, depicting Jesus’ miracles, the biggest painting in the Louvre. Left and right is the exit towards the Grande Gallery.
10. You will enter an very big space. Ahead you will see the biggest painting in the Louvre, The Wedding Feast at Cana. Turn sideways to face the wooden barrier and see The Mona Lisa, La Joconde, La Gioconda, the Great Lady of the Louvre.
Going out from room 711, using the exit near the painting of The wedding Feast at Cana, you will get here. If you stand in Grande Gallery, the statue of Artemis marks the door to the room 711, where La Joconde is. (At least when we visited, it did): see the entrance on the right?
This plan of 1st floor Louvre Museum might help:
Did you know that some say Mona Lisa was a rich Florentine business woman, Leonardo da Vinci’s neighbor. Some say she was his mother. Some say it is a well disguised self-portrait or the portrait of da Vinci’s secret lover. Some even say it is the portrait of the only girl da Vinci was ever in love with.
Certain is that Mona LIsa is one of the Three Ladies of the Louvre, together with Venus de Milo and Nike, The Winged Victory of Samothrace.
Mona Lisa was one of the period’s largest portraits, painted on a single, very thin (12 mm) poplar board.
It reflects Renaissance interest in Platonic theory, when the beauty of the body was seen as that of the soul.
It is not an ostentatious image of a rich bourgeoisie lady: through pose and attire and the absence of eyelashes and eyebrows (in line with the fashion).
Gioconda, in Italian, it means happiness.
NEW: Meeting the ‘Mona Lisa’ for an Intimate (Virtual) Rendezvous
Visitors to the Louvre will experience Leonardo da Vinci’s world through a virtual-reality tour that brings them closer to the masterpiece than ever before. Read more here.
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