Lescot Wing
Coordinates: 48°51′36.95″N 2°20′15.08″E / 48.8602639°N 2.3375222°E
The Lescot Wing (in French, the Aile Lescot or Aile Henri II) is the oldest portion above ground of the Louvre Palace, in Paris, France. It was executed to the designs of the architect Pierre Lescot between 1546 and 1551. Strongly tinged with Italian Mannerism, it became the Parisian Renaissance style, thus "setting the mold" for all later French architectural classicism .
The Lescot Wing is situated between the Pavillon du Roi and the Pavillon de l'Horloge (or Pavillon Sully), and overlooks the inner Cour Carrée (Square Court) of the Louvre. The court facade consists of two main stories plus an attic richly embellished with Jean Goujon's panels of bas-reliefs. It is crowned by a sloping roof, a traditional feature of French architecture. The deeply recessed arch-headed windows of the ground story give the impression of an arcade, while the projecting pavilions bear small round oeil de bœuf windows above them. In the second storey slender fluted pilasters separate the windows, which alternate delicate triangular and arched pediments. Goujon's noble sculpture and architectural ornaments are cleverly subordinated to the construction, but the surviving ground-floor Salle des Cariatides (1549) is named for Goujon's four caryatid figures that support the musicians' gallery.
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