The Louvre was originally built at a fortress. Around year 1200, near the city limits and the Seine river banks, the Louvre was considered and administered as an additional protection in the Paris defensive system by King Philippe Auguste's engineers.

Built just before the departure of the King to the Crusades, its high walls were protecting the citizens from the river, from where invaders were always feared. The building did not yet host the political power, which was still moving. Prison, often keeping the royal treasure and armory, with lots of surrounding towers to protect the central dungeon, it was just one of the many fortresses where the Royalty was displaying its growing power.

With Charles V, the wise King, the Louvre took a more pleasant and intellectual visage. The King installed his private library, a rich collection of manuscripts, in one of the towers. The architect Raimond du Temple redesigned the housing facilities to be more open to daylight. He built a huge staircase, the "grande vis", decorated with sculptures of the royal family. But the Louvre was still only one of the many royal constructions: la Bastille, Vincennes, the Saint-Paul Hotel were other royal buildings. Francois 1er, fascinated by feasts and constructions, starting to rework the old citadel. He had Philippe Auguste central dungeon destroyed in 1528, invited Charles Quint in 1530, and mandated Pierre Lescot to renovate the palace in 1546. However, the construction mostly expanded under the reigns of the King's sons.

Often in Paris, the royal family and their servants used to spend days there. The palace was transformed, Pierre Lescot designed a new facade which, along with the King's pavilion, new dungeon above the Seine, became the manifest of the French Renaissance style. Jean Goujon chiseled the sculpted ornaments of the facade, showing surprising allegories of the monarchic power. The sculpture continues inside towards the staircase, becomes magnificent in the amazing Caryatides tribune, up to Scibecq de Carpi's chiseled wooden ceiling in the King's chamber.