The Louvre has not always been a museum. Originally, in 1202, it was a fortress with a keep and a square wall, built by King Philippe Auguste to protect Paris. At the time, the place chosen for the construction of the military stronghold, on the banks of the Seine, was named ‘lupara’ in Bas-Latin, which means ‘louverie’ in French, hence the word Louvre. Another hypothesis is that the term Louvre derives from the Old French ‘lauer’, which meant watchtower. It was only under Charles V, in the second half of the 14th century, that the fortress became a royal residence.