The bestselling author of The Only Street in Paris and The Seine shares an intimate journey of discovery and revelation into the world’s most famous museum.

Every year, millions of visitors to Paris visit the Louvre, attracted by its masterpieces like the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, and other magnificent works of art that are icons of human achievement. But the museum — once a forbidding fortress built to house and protect French kings — is often more intimidating than inviting.

In Adventures in the Louvre, Elaine Sciolino takes it as her mission to show how anyone can forge an intimate connection with the museum. She demystifies the Louvre, introducing us to her favorite artworks, both legendary and overlooked, and to the people who are the museum’s lifeblood: the curators selecting and arranging the works, the artisans producing frames and engravings, the builders overseeing restorations, the firefighters protecting the aging structure.

An irrepressible and charming travel companion, Sciolino reveals a Louvre filled with unexpected mysteries, delights, and frustrations. She also takes us beyond the building’s imposing walls to reveal an expansive side, from the Tuileries gardens next door to the satellite museums in the northern French city of Lens and in Abu Dhabi.

Through Sciolino’s eyes, we encounter a museum that is an elusive and seductive object of desire for anyone who longs for the connection and inspiration that great art provides. With her by our side, we cannot help falling in love with the Louvre.