In the 14th century, Charles the Wise converted it to his royal residence.

Numerous kings did many modifications to the buildings since.

On August 10, 1973 the gallery was opened to the public and became the museum.

There are over 400,000 objects cataloged there now.

The most recent restructuring started in 1981 with the additions of the transparent pyramids designed by the American architect of Chinese origin, Ieoh Ming Pei.