One of the most magnificent Greek Hellenistic statues in the Louvre Museum is the Winged Victory of Samothrace in the Denon Wing! Crafted by Hermann Thiersch, the statue depicts the Goddess Nike with her beautiful wings and dates back to the 2nd century BC. Visitors planning to explore the statue for the first time must know all about its history, symbolism, and more to have the most informative visit. In this article, we’ll discover the statue in detail and look for its exact location in the Museum, with the best time to visit and ticket details to enjoy the best experience!
Description of the Winged Nike Statue
The Winged Victory of Samothrace is also named the Nike of Samothrace since it depicts the Greek Goddess of Victory, Nike. It is 18 feet and 3 inches tall, but since it stands atop the staircase, it appears even taller from below! The statue is made entirely of white Parian Marble, the finest Greek marble, and depicts Nike landing on the base from flight. Her wings are wide open, and she wears a long, flowy garment covering her body’s top and bottom half, leaving her torso bare.
The sculptor takes great care to carve every drapery in the marble to make it resemble cloth exactly, and also defines her body shape since her clothes stick to her body! Sadly, the statue is missing its head and both feet, but research confirms that Nike put most of her weight on the right foot while her left foot remained stretched backward. The statue also has both arms missing, but her shoulder position suggests that her right arm was raised. Researchers believe her left arm was holding a trumpet; however, there is no evidence of the actual arm placement.
Most visitors only stare at the statue and forget to look at the base, a highlighting feature of the statue! It depicts the prow of a Hellenistic warship, with its narrow prow having two rows of slots for the oars. This boat is made from grey marble with white streaks, taken from the Lartos quarries. Its surface has a name engraved on it. Are you wondering what sort of sculpting techniques the Hellenistic artists used? Read further to find out!
Where is the statue located at the Louvre?
The Nike of Samothrace statue is in the Denon Wing of the Louvre, the most popular and over-crowded Wing. You find the statue standing at the top of the Daru staircase in Room 703 on the first level of the Wing. The Denon Wing is easily accessible from the Porte des Lions Entrance, as it gets you directly here.
The statue’s placement makes it appear that it will magically take flight as it stands directly in front of the staircase! A circular glass skylight on top of the statue acts as a spotlight for Nike’s statue, which is backgrounded by a simple beige marble wall. The arch at the top of the staircase centers the statue perfectly, making for the most aesthetically pleasing photograph!
Best Time to Visit the Denon Wing
Since the Denon Wing is the most visited, you must plan your visit well to admire the statue’s details for a longer period of time. We recommend exploring the Musuem from 9 am to 10 am and between 3 pm and 5 pm on weekdays. The Wing is the least crowded from 9 am to 10 am on weekends.
Since admission is free, we don’t recommend exploring the museum after 6 pm on the first Friday of the month. You will find the least crowd inside the Louvre on Mondays and Thursdays. The Denon Wing is open from 9 am to 6 pm on Mondays, Thursdays, and weekends and for longer hours from 8 am to 8 pm on Wednesdays and Fridays. You can visit on any of these days, besides Tuesdays, when the Museum is closed.
To know more about the peak months, check out our article on the best time to visit the Louvre Museum so you can plan the most comfortable experience!
Louvre Museum Tickets to see the Statue
You must have tickets to explore all the parts of the Museum and admire the Winged Victory in the Denon Wing. Standard entry tickets with skip-the-line access are recommended for visitors who want to explore at their own pace until closing time. They cost €25 for visitors aged 18 to 99!
History buffs and art lovers will also enjoy the informative two-hour guided tour, which covers the backstories and history of the most popular highlights, including the Nike statue. This Louvre Museum Guided Tour costs €84 for visitors 18 to 99 years and €69 for kids 17 years and below!
Hellenistic Sculpting Techniques used on the Winged Victory
What makes the Hellenistic technique of sculpting so popular? It mainly gained popularity as it differed from traditional sculpting forms. It focused on creating interesting, expressive shapes with a realistic anatomical style that was only possible for professionals to replicate. This element is seen in the Winged Victory sculpture, with its realistic body proportions, and was replicated in most sculptures of Gods and Goddesses!
One of the other factors that made the sculptures so famous was the ornate carvings done on them. You can see ornate and delicate craftsmanship done on Nike’s garment in the Winged Victory of Samothrace statue. The fabric sculptured on the statue was clinging to the body to enhance their body and other features, known as the wet drapery technique! You can observe similar techniques used in other Hellenistic sculptures, such as Laocoon & his Sons and Venus de Milo in the Louvre Musuem.
Who constructed the Statue & how did it reach the Louvre?
In 1863, Charles Champosieu discovered the Winged Victory on the Island of Samothrace from the ruins of the Sanctuary of the Great Gods. He found the statue with beautiful wings and other broken pieces, which he immediately recognized as the Goddess Nike. He also discovered 15 marble blocks of different sizes scattered around the statue, which he presumed to be part of a funerary monument. Charles did not bring these blocks back to the museum with the statue.
The statue’s base arrived much later, in 1875, when an Austrian archeologist, Alexander Conze, assembled it and realized it resembled a warship. Champosieu returned multiple times in 1879 to look for the head of the statue but always returned unsuccessfully. Researchers believe the statue dates back to 190 BC and was built to celebrate the victory of a sea battle. They built the statue to thank the Island Gods, called the Cabeiri, who were worshipped all around Greece.
The statue was set up in the Louvre Museum once it reached France and only moved around the countryside to keep it hidden from the Nazis. It has been standing permanently in the Museum since 1945, after WWII! Karl Lehmenn and other archeologists visited the site in 1938 and brought back pieces of Nike’s right palm and two fingers! You can find the hand in the Louvre Museum as well. Two other grey marble pieces were retrieved from the beach in 1952 and added to the base after research. Sadly, since these pieces and the statue are centuries old, there is still no information about the actual sculptor of the Winged Victory.
Reconstruction Winged Victory of Samothrace
Since the Nike of Samothrace is an ancient sculpture, many restorations were done, besides adding the lost parts, to maintain its beauty. The first restoration of the statue was between 1864 and 1866 when Adrien Prevost de Longpereir made some repairs and displayed the statue as it was. Benndorf and Hauser worked together to study the positions and create a model of Nike, blowing a trumpet she holds in one hand and raising her right arm. This depiction replicates the image carved on the back of an ancient Greek Tetradrachm coin.
However, this depiction was not recreated when the statue was rebuilt. The Louvre Museum’s curator, Felix Ravaisson Mollien, followed the Austrian restoration idea of having the statue stand over a warship as a base with her wings outstretched. Between 1880 and 1883, the belts’ plaster area was restored. J. McCredie and his team recently reconstructed the statue in 3D between 2008 and 2014! They cleaned its surface and scanned it to discover traces of blue paint on Nike’s wings and her belt. They also fixed a few parts of the statue and added a feather at the top of the left-wing and a cloth fold.
While restoring the sculpture, they removed the metal piece lodged in Nike’s left foot. The marble blocks and the statue were placed on a metal base, standing over a cylinder, to increase their height and ensure they were well-balanced!
FAQs on the Winged Victory of Samothrace
1. Who made the Winged Victory of Samothrace?
There is no existing evidence of who the sculptor of the Winged Victory of Samothrace is.
2. What are some Winged Victory of Samothrace facts?
The Winged Victory was not originally white colored but was painted. This fact is evident because of the remains of blue color paint on her wings!
3. What does the statue symbolize?
The 190 BC statue of Nike standing at the prow of a boat was believed to symbolize the victory of a Naval Battle; however, there is no proof of such an incident.
4. Did the Winged Victory ever have a head?
There is no evidence of the Winged Victory having a head. Charles Camposeiu, the Louvre Museum curator, returned to Samothrace Island multiple times in 1879 to look for Nike’s head. Even though he discovered 110 other fragments, he never found her head or arms.
5. Where is the Nike of Samothrace statue in the Louvre?
The statue stands on top of the Daru staircase in Room 700 in the Denon Wing.
6. What does the meaning of Winged Victory of Samothrace mean?
The statue shows a powerful Goddes driving the boat towards victory as she stands on the prow. It was believed to show gratitude to the Gods for a Naval Battle victory.
7. What is the ticket price to see the Winged Nike statue at the Louvre?
The standard Louvre Museum tickets with skip-the-line access and a 1-day validation period cost €25 for visitors 18 to 99 years.
8. When is the best time to explore the statue of the Winged Nike?
The Nike statue is best explored on weekdays from 9 am to 10 am, between 3 pm and 5 pm, and from 9 am to 10 am on weekends.
Featured Image: Smarthistory.org
