Лувр мұражайындағы кері пирамида

Skylight in the Carrousel du Louvre

The Louvre Inverted Pyramid The tip of the pyramid is suspended above floor level. Individual glass panes in the pyramid are connected by stainless steel crosses in length. After dark, the structure is illuminated by a frieze of spotlights. Directly below the tip of the downwards pointing glass pyramid, a small stone pyramid (about ) is stationed on the floor, as if mirroring the larger structure above: The tips of the two pyramids almost touch. The Pyramide Inversée was designed by architect I. M. Pei, and installed as part of the Phase II government renovation of the Louvre Museum, known as the Grand Louvre project. It was completed in 1993. In 1995, it was a finalist in the Benedictus Awards, described by the jury as "a remarkable anti structure a symbolic use of technology a piece of sculpture. It was meant as an object but it is an object to transmit light."

The Inverted Pyramid figures prominently on the concluding pages of Dan Brown's international bestseller The Da Vinci Code. The protagonist of the 2003 novel, Robert Langdon, reads esoteric symbolism into the two pyramids: The Inverted Pyramid is perceived as a Chalice, a feminine symbol, whereas the stone pyramid below is interpreted as a Blade, a masculine symbol: the whole structure could thus express the union of the sexes. Moreover, Brown's protagonist concludes that the tiny stone pyramid is actually only the apex of a larger pyramid (possibly the same size as the inverted pyramid above), embedded in the floor as a secret chamber. This chamber is implied to enclose the body of Mary Magdalene. At the climax of the 2006 film adaptation, the camera elaborately moves through the entire glass pyramid from above and then descends beneath the floor below to reveal the supposed hidden chamber under the tiny stone pyramid, containing the sarcophagus with the remains of Mary Magdalene. In reality, the smaller stone pyramid does not form the tip of a larger pyramid. In fact, it can be pushed aside to facilitate maintenance and cleaning of the glass pyramid above.