V. M. Hillyer

——V.M.希利爾（仲秋譯）

“But I thought the Louvre was an art gallery！”you say. So it is now， the biggest art gallery in the world， but it wasn't built as an art gallery. It was built by kings of France for their use as a palace.

The Louvre is so big—one gallery in it is a quarter of a mile long—that it would take you hours and hours just to walk all through it. Of course it wasn't built all at one time. Francis I built part of it. Then other kings added other parts. It wasn't finished till late in the nineteenth century. So the Louvre is a good building to study for a complete history of Renaissance architecture in France， from the earliest to the latest styles.

The Louvre is so big that a photograph doesn't do it justice. In a photograph you can only see one part of it at a time and as each main part looks quite different from its other parts， you really have to be in Paris and see it for yourself to get a good view of it.

“不過，”你肯定會說，“我記得羅浮宮是一座藝術(shù)博物館??！”是的，現(xiàn)在的羅浮宮的確是一座藝術(shù)博物館，而且是現(xiàn)在世界上最大的一座博物館，但當時它并不是作為博物館來修建的，而是法國王室修建來作為自己的宮殿用的。

羅浮宮非常非常大——一個畫廊就有四百米那么長——你就是只走路穿過去就要花掉好幾個小時。當然，這么大的羅浮宮也不是一次性就建好的，弗朗索瓦一世修建了其中的一部分，后來的國王又增建了建筑的其他部分，直到19世紀才全部完工。由于修建時間跨度長，涵蓋了法國文藝復(fù)興各個時期的風(fēng)格，因此羅浮宮成為研究整個法國文藝復(fù)興風(fēng)格建筑的最佳范例。

也因為羅浮宮太大了，所以一張照片根本不能展示出它的全貌。在一張照片里，你都只能看到羅浮宮的一個角落、一個部分，然而羅浮宮的每個角落、各個區(qū)域又是風(fēng)格迥異的，所以如果有機會的話，你應(yīng)該親自去一趟巴黎，親眼看看羅浮宮的風(fēng)采，那樣的話每個角落都可以被你盡收眼底。

Two of the most important of the many architects of the Louvre were Pierre Lescot and Claude Perrault.

Lescot was the architect for Francis I. Perrault's work is a century later than Lescot's. Perrault did the famous east fa?ade with its long row of coupled Corinthian columns. The strange fact is that Perrault was the king's doctor， not an architect at all， but he managed to make a very good job of the east fa?ade of the Louvre.

The Louvre was used as the kings' palace till the French Revolution. Then the king was beheaded and the Louvre was made into a national art gallery. An art gallery is what it has been ever since.

But though Francis I was showy and spent too much money in building， there was a later French king who was even showier and spent even more money in building even more magnificent palaces. This king was Louis XIV， whose architect built the tremendous palace of Versailles. The palace at Versailles was added to by later kings until France became a republic. It is now owned and cared for by the French Government.

Its beautifully laid out grounds add to the magnificence of the palace， but the buildings themselves are monotonous， too much alike， too long and regular. The most famous part is the Hall of Mirrors， a gigantic room with mirrors along the walls. The Hall of Mirrors is where the peace treaty was signed after World War I.

在參與羅浮宮修建的眾多建筑師中，有兩位是非常重要的，他倆分別是皮埃爾·萊斯科和克洛德·佩羅。

皮埃爾·萊斯科是弗朗索瓦一世時期的建筑師，而克洛德·佩羅參與羅浮宮設(shè)計的時間要比皮埃爾·萊斯科晚一個世紀。羅浮宮東部面門的長排科林斯對柱便是克洛德·佩羅最著名的設(shè)計了。不可思議的是，克洛德·佩羅其實是國王的御醫(yī)，完全不是建筑師，但是不得不承認他設(shè)計的羅浮宮東部面門確實十分漂亮。

羅浮宮自建成，一直都被用作王室的宮殿，這一用途延續(xù)到法國革命爆發(fā)。在那次革命中，法國國王被斬首，羅浮宮也變成了國家藝術(shù)博物館，直到現(xiàn)在。

但即使弗朗索瓦一世非常愛炫耀，喜歡大興土木、揮霍無度，在他之后的一位法國國王，在修建富麗堂皇的宮殿用于炫富上更加揮霍無度。這位國王就是路易十四，他的建筑師為他修建了金碧輝煌的凡爾賽宮。在那之后的法國國王也都不斷地增建凡爾賽宮，這種情況一直延續(xù)到法國最終成為共和國。目前，這座華麗的宮殿屬于法國政府，并由政府來維護。

凡爾賽宮內(nèi)部有著非常精美的布置，使得原本就十分豪華的宮殿顯得更加金碧輝煌。但是如果只看建筑結(jié)構(gòu)，凡爾賽宮本身非常單調(diào)，就是在不斷重復(fù)，既長又普通。在凡爾賽宮內(nèi)，最有名的參觀點是鏡廳。鏡廳非常寬敞，四周的墻面鑲滿了鏡子。第一次世界大戰(zhàn)的停戰(zhàn)協(xié)議就是在凡爾賽宮的鏡廳簽署的。

Word Study

behead/b?'hed/v.將（某人）斬首（尤指刑罰）

magnificent/m?g'n?f?snt/adj.壯麗的;宏偉的;值得贊揚的

The Taj Mahal is a magnificent building.

monotonous/m?'n?t?n?s/adj.單調(diào)乏味的

At Versailles， not very far from the big palace， is a much smaller building called the Petit Trianon. It was built by Louis XV and became the favorite residence of Marie Antoinette， the queen who was later beheaded in the French Revolution.

The French Revolution brings us almost up to the nineteenth century. In the nineteenth century the French erected several buildings that have become famous. One of these is the Dome of the Invalides， a building sacred to Frenchmen because it contains the tomb of Napoleon. In it you can see Napoleon's badge or trade?mark—a capital letter N.

在凡爾賽宮庭院內(nèi)，離主建筑不遠的地方，有一座比凡爾賽宮小得多的建筑，名叫小特里亞農(nóng)宮。這座建筑由路易十五修建，后來成為瑪麗·安托瓦內(nèi)特最喜愛的居所，這個瑪麗·安托瓦內(nèi)特就是后來在法國革命中被砍頭的王后。

說到法國革命，時間就將我們帶進了19世紀。19世紀法國修建的建筑中，有一些后來也變得很有名，其中一座聞名的建筑就是榮軍院。這是一座被法國人奉為神圣之地的建筑，因為榮軍院教堂底下有拿破侖的陵墓。在榮軍院里，你還可以看到專屬于拿破侖的標志——大寫的字母N。

The French Pantheon has a somewhat similar dome， with however， a circle of slim columns around the base. The Pantheon is used as a church and is a shrine to the memory of Saint Genevieve， the patron saint of Paris. It contains the celebrated mural paintings of scenes from the life of Saint Genevieve.

France， and especially Paris， has many other handsome buildings. I wish I could tell you about them all. But I'm sure there are enough French names in this chapter already to keep your memory busy. If you can't name them all without looking back， you'll know why I'm not going even to mention the Madeleine， the Arc de Triomphe， L'Orangerie， the Eiffel Tower or the Opera.

What！ I've already mentioned them？So I have. Well， anyway， I won't say anything more about them. So there！

法國先賢祠的拱頂與希臘眾神廟的拱頂很相像，只不過先賢祠的拱頂下面有一圈細細長長的圓柱。法國先賢祠曾經(jīng)作為教堂使用，同時也是紀念巴黎守護神——圣女日南斐法的神社。先賢祠里面有許多著名的壁畫，主要描述的場景是圣女日南斐法的生平。

法國，尤其是巴黎，還有許許多多漂亮的建筑。我真希望我能給你都介紹一遍。但是我相信現(xiàn)在這一章里提到的建筑名字已經(jīng)把你的大腦都塞滿了，如果你現(xiàn)在不回頭看，已經(jīng)記不得我剛才介紹過的那些著名建筑的話，你就知道為什么我沒有再提瑪?shù)铝战烫?、凱旋門、橘園、埃菲爾鐵塔、巴黎歌劇院等更多的名勝了。

什么！我已經(jīng)都介紹過了？好吧，就算我都說了吧。嗯，不管怎么樣，我就不再多說什么了，這一章就到此為止吧！

Word Study

erect/?'rekt/v.建立;建造

The church was erected in 1582.

sacred/'se?kr?d/adj.上帝的;神的;神圣的

This memorial stands on sacred ground.