The Nouveau Louvre mostly consists of two sets of buildings or wings, on the northern and southern sides of the central space that is now called the Cour Napoléon. The new buildings were structured around a sequence of pavilions that were given names of French statesmen from the
Ancien Régime (North Wing) and the Napoleonic era (South Wing), still used to this day: from the northwest to the southwest, , , , (the project's new name for the pre-existing
pavillon de l'Horloge), topping the
eponymous staircase, , and also featuring a monumental staircase. (From 1989, the names of the three central pavilions have also been given to the entire respective wings of the Louvre museum complex. Thus, the Louvre's North Wing is now known as , its eastern square of buildings around the
Cour Carrée is the , and the South Wing is the .) Lefuel created two octagonal gardens at the center of the Cour Napoléon (now replaced by the
Louvre Pyramid). In multiple parts of the project, Napoleon III emphasized his role as continuator of the great French monarchs of the past, and as the one who completed their unfinished work. On both sides of the Pavillon Sully, black marble plaques bear gilded inscriptions that read, respectively: "1541. François Ier commence le Louvre. 1564. Catherine de Médicis commence les Tuileries," and "1852–1857. Napoléon III réunit les Tuileries au Louvre." Separately, Napoleon III created a
Musée des Souverains in the Louvre's
Colonnade Wing to similarly emphasize the continuity of his rule with the long legacy of French monarchy and thus bolster his legitimacy. {{multiple image| align=center| total_width=800 On the eastern side of the Cour Napoléon, the project entailed no new building but rather the exterior refacing of the pre-existing palace whose interior rooms were left unchanged. For the central
pavillon de l'Horloge's new western façade, Visconti took inspiration from both its eastern side designed by
Jacques Lemercier in the 1620s and from the central pavilion of the
Tuileries Palace, itself influenced by Lemercier's. The same inspiration shaped the pavilions named after Richelieu and Denon on the Cour Napoléon's northern and southern sides. Lefuel transformed Visconti's understated original design and added a profusion of elaborate sculptural detail. Despite being criticized by a number of observers, e.g. by
Ludovic Vitet,
Prosper Mérimée and
Horace de Viel-Castel, Lefuel's treatment of the square-dome-roofed pavilions became a seminal model for
Second Empire architecture in France and elsewhere. Inside the North Wing were prestige apartments for some of the regime's principal figures, including those of the Minister of State (long mistakenly attributed to the
Duke of Morny and now known as the ), served by a monumental staircase later known as the ; administrative offices for the , the short-lived (1858–1860), the (separated from the in 1860), and (briefly) the created in early 1870; the Directorate of Telegraphs; barracks for the
Imperial Guard; and the (formerly under Napoleon and under the Restoration), personal property of the emperor but open to the public, on the upper floor between the Pavillon Richelieu and the
rue de Rivoli. The latter was acceded by the monumental (known since the late 19th century as ), with sculpted decoration by Lefuel's friend
Marie-Noémi Cadiot. Initial plans to locate the
Minister of the Interior in the North Wing's eastern half were abandoned in the late 1850s. The South Wing was largely devoted to a series of new spaces for the
Louvre Museum that were dubbed the . These included, on the upper ground floor, a new entrance lobby flanked by two long stone-clad galleries, respectively named after
Napoleon's ministers
Pierre Daru () and
Nicolas François, Count Mollien (), with the monumental staircases bearing those same names at both ends; and on the first floor, high-ceilinged exhibition rooms for large paintings, the and , with the in the middle, whose lavish interior decoration was completed in 1866. On the same floor, between the Pavillon Denon and the
Grande Galerie, Lefuel created a large Estates Hall () for state events and ceremonies. Below these prestige spaces was an extensive complex of stables for up to 149 horses and 34 carriages. At the center of it is the brick-and-stone , a monumental indoor space for horse-riding under the Salle des États, between two interior courts named after
Caulaincourt (west) and Visconti (east). (The
cour Caulaincourt was renamed after Lefuel following the architect's death in 1880.) The stables were nominally supervised by Great Equerry () , whose spacious apartment was on the western side of the Cour Lefuel and adorned with a porticoed balcony. The South wing also included barracks for the
Cent-gardes Squadron and lodgings for the palace's service personnel. File:Louvre aile Richelieu.jpg|North Wing File:Escalier du ministre (Louvre) 2.jpg|Escalier du Ministre File:Escalier Lefuel (Louvre) 1.jpg|Escalier Lefuel File:Escalier Colbert (Louvre).jpg|Escalier Colbert File:Appartements Napoléon III 4.jpg|Appartements Napoléon III File:Decorative arts in the Louvre - Room 548 - 03.jpg|Appartements Napoléon III File:Galerie Daru - Musée du Louvre.jpg|Galerie Daru File:Salle Daru du Louvre (30612872064).jpg|Salle Daru File:Roof, Louvre.jpg|Pavillon Denon ceiling File:Cour Lefuel (Louvre) 2.jpg|Cour Lefuel with ramps to the salle du Manège File:Palais du Louvre - Salle du Manège -0a.jpg|Interior of the salle du Manège File:Paris Louvre Nordseite 2.jpg|Pavillon de la Bibliothèque on the
rue de Rivoli ==Statuary==