Archive Architecture Cinema Observations Paris

Security openings in the walls of the Royal Opera of Versailles at the 1961 Kennedy reception

Watching newsreel footage of the Kennedys' state visit to France in 1961, I noticed some curious openings in the wall of the Royal Opera of Versailles. What are these little squares, scattered across the different tiers of the auditorium, for?

They are neither heating nor lighting vents. They are security windows.

The Opera was guarded on all sides. Special men, known as mouches, kept watch in the niches behind these little windows, armed with firearms. The placement of the niches along the circular entablature of the columns gives a complete view of the auditorium, so that any likely danger might be eliminated.

The Kennedys stand beside General de Gaulle, with Yvonne de Gaulle to the right of the President. That day the entire upper crust of French society had gathered at Versailles; in the photograph one can make out, for instance, Hubert de Givenchy

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September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

In the finale of the Strugatskys' Roadside Picnic, the Golden Ball is told: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to offend nobody, but the digest really does come free of charge. So, here is the main business of the

Frederic Leighton

Frederic Leighton. “Daedalus and Icarus”, 1869 Daedalus warns his son not to climb too high: the heat of the sun may melt the wax, but Icarus is already gazing into the distance, and the lamentations of a foolish old man interest him not in the least

Security openings in the walls of the Royal Opera of Versailles at the 1961 Kennedy reception

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September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

Frederic Leighton

Attempts to resolve the problems of many years of uncontrolled mass migration

Characters from Gogol's "Petersburg Tales" on the pedestal of the monument to Nikolai Gogol on Nikitsky Boulevard, photograph of the 1960s