The Louvre Is Now Offering a Tour Inspired by Jay-Z and Beyoncé

A self-guided tour at the historic Paris museum enables visitors to check out prominent artworks featured in the Carters’ internet-breaking music video.

The Louvre Is Now Offering a Tour Inspired by Jay-Z and Beyoncé

The Museé du Louvre is among the world’s largest museums and one of the most popular tourist destinations in Paris.

Photo by pichetw/Shutterstock

When Beyoncé and Jay-Z dropped their newest music video in June, the power couple surprised the world—not just with the announcement of their joint album, but also with the location in which its debut video was shot: the iconic Louvre museum in Paris.

Inspired by the Carters’ video for the song “APES**T,” which has racked up more than 69 million views to date, the world’s largest art museum unveiled a new 1.5-hour-long self-guided tour for museum visitors that covers 17 of the “key works” featured in the video.

The Beyoncé and Jay-Z–focused tour follows prominent artworks from the “APES**T” video in no particular order, first stopping at Winged Victory of Samothrace, the iconic ancient Greek sculpture Beyoncé dances in front of throughout the six-minute clip.

Along the way, the self-guided tour passes Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, the ceiling of the Galerie d’Apollon, and Théodore Géricault’s Raft of the Medusa. The visitor trail concludes with Marie-Guillemine Benoist’s 1800 painting Portrait of a Black Woman, a potential nod to the video’s narrative —a celebration of black excellence.

The thematic trail is available on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. On the official Louvre site, the self-guided route is available in both French and English and can be printed from the site or followed on a mobile device.

The Louvre attracts approximately 8 million visitors annually and held strong as the world’s most popular museum last year, so be sure to show up early. Its appearance in Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s video certainly won’t dampen the reliably thick summer crowds.

>>Next: Banksy Pops Up in Paris with Powerful New Political Murals

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