Paris - The Parnassian

The Golden Age · Art · Paris · People

Édouard Boubat, French photographer and acknowledged classic of the humanist school

Édouard Boubat was a French photographer and an acknowledged classic of the humanist school. While his contemporaries recorded social cataclysms, Boubat deliberately sought in his viewfinder moments of pure joy, tenderness and everyday harmony. Having survived the horrors of the Second World War and forced labour, he returned to his

Faith · Observations · Society · Paris · Humour

I Don't Care for Such Familiarity, but What Will the Pope Say?

On 18 September the Vatican declined several protocol proposals from the Élysée Palace, including the Legion of Honour and a visit to Notre-Dame. On 25 September Leo XIV publicly reprimanded Macron: war, euthanasia, the abandonment of the Church. Macron took offence and began boycotting Masses. But on 27 September,

Paris · Archaeology · Architecture

A wall more than two thousand years old found in the centre of Paris

On the Île de la Cité in the centre of Paris, archaeologists have discovered a section of ancient wall about 20 metres long. The researchers suppose that this wall formed part of the fortifications of Lutetia, the settlement of the Gallic tribe of the Parisii from which Paris later grew.

Observations · Heritage · Society · Paris

It turns out that the two vandals detained at the Louvre on 19 September are Germans who call themselves artists and say they decided to glue their paintings up beside the "Mona Lisa" "for fun"

Corporal punishment (I am not speaking of running the gauntlet, branding and the knout, but in the form of the bastinado at the very least) must surely be restored. Precisely for such occasions, when the early bird has started to sing, lest the cat should eat it

Museums · Society · Paris · Heritage

Police arrest vandals at the Louvre

On Saturday the Paris police arrested two dimwits from Germany at the Louvre, who had fixed two paintings of their own, each measuring 30 by 40 cm, to the wall beside the "Mona Lisa". One of the pictures they had brought depicted a man in armour. The other

Coming Up · Art · Paris · Pop Culture

During Art Basel this year, Sotheby's will open an exhibition apartment on the Rue de Rivoli in Paris, overlooking the Tuileries Garden, with works worth nearly $150 million on display

During Art Basel this year, Sotheby's will open an exhibition apartment on the Rue de Rivoli in Paris, overlooking the Tuileries Garden, with works worth nearly $150 million on display. None of them will go under the hammer: all are offered for private sale, that is, a transaction

Architecture · Art · Museums · Paris

The Musée national Picasso in Paris will issue an exclusive edition of eight bronze sculptures by the artist to raise money for an extension of the building

The museum holds the largest collection of works by Pablo Picasso in the world. And now, as the "Picasso 2030" project is being prepared, at a cost of €50 million and providing for the construction of a new wing of 800 sq. m for temporary exhibitions, the museum

Museums · Heritage · Society · Paris

At the Jolly Negro

The historic sign of a colonial goods shop in Paris, at 14 rue Mouffetard. The white woman, incidentally, contrary to first impressions, is pouring a drink for the dark-skinned figure, and not the other way round. In the 2010s the sign began to suffer at the hands of city

NB! · Archive · Art · Museums · Paris

The Mona Lisa Returns to the Louvre from Wartime Evacuation

Archive · Museums · Heritage · Paris

In August 1939, Jacques Jaujard, Director of the French National Museums, carried out the largest and most secret operation to save the world's art

In August 1939, Jacques Jaujard, Director of the French National Museums, carried out the largest and most secret operation to save the world's art. A few days before the outbreak of the Second World War, the Louvre was suddenly closed to the public on the pretext of routine

Art · Paris · Humour

The Best View in Paris Is, of Course, of the Kremlin

Erik Bulatov, “Paris. Kremlin”, 1992

Archaeology · Architecture · Faith · The East · Art · Moscow · Museums · Heritage · Science · Paris · Nature · Saint Petersburg

Fet begged to “drive the living boat off with a single push”, to catch the fleeting before it vanishes

Fet begged to “drive the living boat off with a single push”, to catch the fleeting before it vanishes. The monthly digest has a more modest task, though the same one: to hold on to what matters before the flood of news washes it away. Here is the main news