Moscow · Observations · Society · Paris · Nature · Humour
Extreme heat continues in France. The red alert level has been declared in 16 departments of the country. Since yesterday the top floor of the Eiffel Tower has been closed to visitors because of the high temperature. Abnormal heat is also being recorded in Spain, Portugal, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Paris · People · Pop Culture
Walt Disney in Paris on the Place de la Concorde in 1935 recalls the French origin of his surname, which was originally d'Isigny. The name derives from that of the town of Isigny in Normandy. Walt Disney's ancestors were Norman French who emigrated to England, and
Interviews · Paris · People · Humour
“My father and his friends found a way to express themselves through the press. The families of my classmates did not understand this: in their eyes, I was not fit company.” The French actress Michèle Bernier, daughter of Professor Choron, the founder of the magazines Hara-Kiri and Charlie Hebdo,
Aristocracy · Faith · Monarchies · Paris · People
In 2013, at the Monastery of the Protection of the Mother of God in Bussy-en-Othe, some hundred kilometres from Paris, the nun Elizabeth of Leuchtenberg peacefully departed to the Lord. She was one of the last Russian nuns of the first wave of emigration and, at the same
Architecture · Faith · Cinema · Books · Moscow · Museums · Mores · Paris
June's days are running out, so here is a round-up of this month's publications. The June digest takes in literary parallels, architecture, vampires, henpecked husbands and the artefacts of the Louvre. 📌 In the Parnassian Mockingbird cinema rubric: a piece on the first vampire serial 📌 The
NB! · Society · Paris · Humour
Architecture · Faith · Heritage · Paris
The first statue to be placed on the spire was that of Saint Thomas, and it is in many ways a symbolic choice. Saint Thomas is regarded as the patron saint of architects. The composition consists of figures of the 12 apostles and four symbolic figures of the evangelists: an
Architecture · Museums · Science · Paris · Saint Petersburg
In 1931, a Foucault pendulum, the invention of a French astronomer of 1851 that demonstrates the rotation of the Earth, was installed beneath the dome of Saint Isaac's Cathedral. And if the pendulum that Jean Foucault hung beneath the dome of the Paris Panthéon on a 67-metre
Books · Monarchies · Observations · Paris · Nature
The British novelist Barbara Pym, in her ironic novel Crampton Hodnet, written in the 1930s and 1940s, remarks that the fish in the ponds of the Petit Trianon are so old that they must surely have seen Marie Antoinette. In principle, some freshwater fish really do live for more than
Archaeology · Art · Museums · Observations · Paris
If you hurried through the Egyptian hall of the Louvre to get to the tiny Mona Lisa sooner, I advise you to correct the mistake and make the acquaintance, at the very least, of the figure of the Seated Scribe Kay. He is undeservedly neglected, although many historians and art
NB! · Archive · Art · Paris
Museums · Heritage · Society · Paris
Today the Louvre was forced to close owing to a staff strike. The strike is the outcome of a mounting crisis that began several months ago, after the leak of a letter from the museum's director, Laurence des Cars, to the French Minister of Culture. In it she