One of the most famous paintings of all time is the Mona Lisa: a. In which museum is it currently located? b. What is the alternate name the Italian name for this painting?

Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece has been a centerpiece of the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, for centuries. The painting's journey to France began when Leonardo himself brought it there at the invitation of King Francis I in the early 16th century. The king acquired the work, and it has remained in the French national collection ever since, with a brief interruption when it was famously stolen in 1911. Its recovery two years later cemented its international fame. Today, it is one of the world's most protected and visited works of art, viewed by millions each year through a layer of climate-controlled, bulletproof glass.

While known in English as the Mona Lisa, the painting's official title in Italian is La Gioconda. This name has a clever double meaning. It translates to "the happy one" or "the jovial one," a nod to her famously enigmatic smile. More directly, it refers to the likely identity of the sitter, Lisa Gherardini, who was the wife of a Florentine silk merchant named Francesco del Giocondo. "La Gioconda" is the feminine form of her husband's surname. The more common name, Mona Lisa, is also descriptive; "Mona" is a common Italian contraction of "ma donna," which translates to "my lady."