• What to know if you go

JACQUES BRINON/Special (ENLARGE)

These are five of the 24 canvases in the Rubens room of the Richelieu Wing that make up ÒThe Life of Queen Marie de MediciÓ by Flemish master Peter Paul Rubens. The oil paintings were created between 1622 and 1625, and the works originally were displayed in the Palais du Luxembourg, residence of Queen Marie.

JACQUES BRINON/Special (ENLARGE)

There's almost as much art on the ceilings as in the cases of royal porcelains in this decorative arts gallery.

JACQUES BRINON/ Special (ENLARGE)

The glass Pyramid by architect I.M. Pei opened in 1989. It was part of the Grand Louvre project, a reorganization plan for the museum that was launched in 1981.

Louvre via Bloomberg News (ENLARGE)

To beat the crowds around Da Vinci's 'Mona Lisa,' visitors to the Louvre should arrive when the doors open at 9 a.m. and then make a beeline for the Denon Wing.

Paris — Sixty percent of the 4.9 million tourists who visit the Musée du Louvre annually make a beeline for the Big Three — the "Mona Lisa," the "Winged Victory," the "Venus de Milo" — and call it a day.

What a waste.

The Louvre is the world's premier art museum. Its vast collection is a treasure trove of Western art from antiquity to the mid-19th century. True, its size is intimidating and its layout is confusing. The experience can end up a forced march in a trail of tears, especially if children are involved.

It needn't be that way. Herewith, some tips for making the best of your visit to the Louvre:

Be selective, efficient

Accept the fact that the Louvre is so big that you couldn't see everything in a month, much less a day. You will have to narrow your focus, be it a time period, a country, a highlights tour or a wing. Do some research. Consult a guidebook that gives an overview of the collections and make an itinerary based on how much time you want to spend as well as your interests. A few examples:

• A highlights tour kills two birds with one itinerary. You can see the most important works and get a sense of the museum's breadth. The map available at the information desk is a great guide. It locates the official picks and marks them with a picture, so you can decide which you want to see in the flesh. This will, of course, include the Big Three, but also encompass Mexican sculpture, Byzantine icons, Vermeer's "The Lacemaker" and Louis XV's bejeweled coronation crown.

• If antiquities are your thing, you can make a day of it in the Louvre's unending galleries devoted to Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan, Roman and Middle Eastern art. Don't miss the Assyrian galleries. I had never ventured through these rooms until my most recent visit, and I was floored by the large reliefs from a royal palace, the two winged bulls that flank a doorway and the architectural elements — not something you will often see except at the Boston Museum of Fine Art.

Ancient art is clustered at the western end of the museum, on the ground and first floor of the Sully Wing and in contiguous galleries on the lower ground and ground floors of the Denon Wing and the ground floor of the Richelieu Wing.

•A tour of French art is always a wise choice. After all, the Louvre owns the mother lode of the country's patrimony. Sculptures occupy the lower ground floor and ground floor of the Richelieu Wing. The second floor of the Sully Wing is the jackpot of painting. Beginning with the 17th-century galleries, you will get a panoramic survey, from the serene classicism of Nicolas Poussin to the flirty sensuousness of the rococo and on to the masters of the 19th century, such as Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Jacques Louis David and Eugène Delacroix.

The grand history paintings of the 19th century are show-stoppers. Théodore Gericault's "Raft of the Medusa," based on a horrific account of a shipwreck, is a marvel. (The Louvre's collection stops at mid-19th century; for the impressionists, visit the Musée d'Orsay.)

Words to the wise

• Wear comfortable shoes.

• Don't start without a map. Navigating the three labyrinthine wings of the Louvre is a challenge. The Sully Wing, which is organized around a courtyard, offers no short cuts. Once you start to move through the galleries, you are committing yourself to walk all the way around. Don't count on guards to guide you — there are fewer of them proportionately than in American museums. And the exit signs aren't much help either. This is why studying the map before you go is a good idea.

• Restrooms can be a problem. The ones adjacent to the lobby beneath the Pyramid are always crowded, but they are the handiest. Once you get into the galleries, restrooms are scarce. Use them whenever you see them.

• You can avoid the crowds at the main entrance under the Pyramid by entering the museum via the underground shopping mall, La Galerie du Carrousel. Even better is the Porte des Lions, on the Seine side. It is open 9 a.m.-5:30 except Fridays. Hardly anyone knows about it, and it is the entrance closest to the "Mona Lisa." If you want quality time with the Louvre's biggest celebrity, be there at 9 a.m. and race to her gallery on the first floor of the Denon Wing.

The art of looking

• Check out the temporary exhibitions, which are based on the collections and located in various parts of the museum. Very few tourists see them, according to drawings curator Varéna Forcione. "We address the public, usually Parisians, who want to go deeper," she says.

• Don't try to look at everything you pass. If you examine, say, every piece of Greek pottery crammed into the Louvre's cases, you will be overcome by museum fatigue before you leave the gallery. Focus on a few examples, and move on.

• Look up. Many of the ceilings are richly decorated with paintings, relief sculpture and ornament, created by the court painters of the day. There's a ceiling painting by Georges Braque from the 1950s in the Roman galleries — the most contemporary of the ceiling decor.

• Look around. One of the most breathtaking experiences is the approach up a grand staircase to the "Winged Victory." You can get an excellent, and less crowded view, from the alcove across and slightly above the majestic sculpture. And don't miss the case to one side, which displays one of her hands. No arms, but yet a hand. Who knew?

IF YOU GO

• Musée du Louvre, open 9 a.m.-6 p.m. daily, except Tuesdays; until 9:45 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays. Closed Jan. 1, May 1, Aug. 15 and Dec. 25. Admission: $10. Free on the first Sunday of every month. www.louvre.fr/llv/commun/home_flash.jsp?bmLocale=en.

A Paris Museum Pass allows free unlimited visits and immediate entry (no waiting in line) to 60-plus museums and monuments in Paris. A two-day pass is $38; four-day, $58; six-day, $77. www.parismuseumpass.fr.