What is the name of the original rectangular courtyard of the Louvre?

The original rectangular courtyard of the Louvre is the Cour Carrée.

Its name is French for “square courtyard,” although the space is slightly rectangular rather than a mathematically perfect square. It occupies the eastern part of the Louvre complex and grew from the site of the medieval fortress built under Philip II Augustus around 1190.

The courtyard’s Renaissance transformation began under Francis I, who commissioned architect Pierre Lescot in 1546 to replace the old fortress with a more modern royal palace. Henry II continued the work, and later rulers expanded the court until it became roughly four times the size of the original medieval courtyard.

Cour Carrée is often confused with the Cour Napoléon, the large central courtyard associated today with I. M. Pei’s glass Pyramid, or with the Cour du Carrousel farther west. Cour Visconti is another Louvre courtyard, but it belongs to a later section of the museum and is not the original principal court.