When I visited the Louvre Museum in Paris, the first thing that drew my attention were the three Pyramids in the courtyard, one big and two small. The Pei Pyramids (named after I M Pei, the man who designed the modern structures) are made of reflective glass, steel rods and cable. Rising 71 feet above the ground, the main Pyramid serves as an entrance doorway to the main galleries of the Louvre.
As one descends into the interior entrance foyer one can see how Pei has used the glass to provide natural light and ventilation to the galleries below. The lightly tinted glass especially drawn by St Gobain perfectly complements the honey-coloured stone facade of the old Louvre building in the courtyard. The Pyramid is made up of 673 diamond-shaped and triangular panes of glass, excluding the doors.
Inaugurated in 1989, the Pei Pyramid featured in the The Da Vinci Code movie of 2006, by director Ron Howard. In the beginning of the movie, Robert Langdon, the main protagonist enters the Louvre through the Pyramid like millions of visitors who enter the museum the same way.