Capitals of the Salle du Manege. Louvre Museum, Paris. The Manege room in the Louvre is a large space built under Napoleon III for equestrian events. After the fall of the Second Empire, the room was granted to the museum. In 1928 the Salle became the entrance to the museum… [1280×960] [OC]

…Each capital is formed by four identical carvings of a different animal. There are mainly horses, as this was a hall dedicated to equestrian activities, but there are also deer, bears, boars, dogs, wolves, owls, rams… each of them carved to a fine detail and surrounded by other decorative elements. The color os the sandstone contrasts beautifully with the red brickwork that closes de arched ceiling.

The Manege room hall remained the main entrance to the Louvre Museum until the inauguration of the Pei pyramid in 1989.