Louis XIV preferred the project of three French architects, Perrault, Le Vau and d'Orbay, to that of the great Italian master of Baroque, Bernini. Overlooking the church of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois, the majestic façade of the Louvre - finally completed in 1811 (and its true height discovered in 1967, when the moats were dug out) - and its monumental colonnade illustrate the Classical layout of the Grand Siècle.