The Courtyard of the Louvre (called "Cour Napoleon") in 1921. Where today the place is dominated by a large glass pyramid, surrounded by smaller pyramids, rose between trees and green spaces a statue in honor of General Lafayette, a general famous for his participation in the American Revolutionary War on side of the colonists and his role in the French Revolution.

The statue was commissioned by the American Robert Thompson and offered to France in gratitude for the Statue of Liberty.

In 1983, under the French President Francois Mitterand, the radical redesign of the glass pyramid was worked out by the famous Chinese-American architect Ieoh Ming Pei. The statue had to give way and was moved in 1985 to the Seine in the 8th arrondissement. Despite fierce protests, the pyramid was inaugurated in 1989. Since then it has strongly influenced the image of the Louvre, and few might remember the previous state.