Architecture · Heritage · Society · Paris

The Eiffel Tower was listed as a historic monument on 24 June 1964 and as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991, yet the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, has decided to keep the Olympic logo on the Eiffel Tower even after the Games are over, that is…

The Eiffel Tower was listed as a historic monument on 24 June 1964 and as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991, yet the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, has decided to keep the Olympic logo on the Eiffel Tower even after the Games are over, that is, an enormous

NB! · Archive · Paris

A Balloon over the Tuileries and the Louvre in 1878

NB! · Archive · Art · Paris · People

The Letters of Édouard Manet, 1879–1880, Embellished by the Artist

Archive · Society · Paris · Pop Culture

Alain Delon's letter to de Gaulle and the president's resignation after a negative vote

Letter from Alain Delon to General de Gaulle, written on the eve of de Gaulle's official departure from the French presidency in 1969. An extraordinary time in the history of Europe, effectively the last season of a truly great France. Alain Delon writes as follows: “My General, for

Art · Monarchies · Museums · Paris

Table Made from a Malabar Teak Slice for Louis XVIII at the Grand Trianon

In 1823 Louis XVIII acquired a unique slab of wood: a cross-section of Malabar oak, or teak, almost 3 metres across. The wood of Indian teak, especially from the Malabar Coast, is highly prized for its handsome colouring. But teak usually reaches no more than a metre and a

Faith · Observations · Paris · Pop Culture

Author compares Olympic closing ceremony with Assassin's Creed and the opening ceremony

The dreadful symbolism of the closing of the Olympic diabolerie, which looks like a cult ritual disguised as sketches from Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft, after all, is a French company), is on the whole in perfect harmony with the Horseman of the Apocalypse and the other occult scenes of

NB! · Art · Museums · Paris

Alexander Calder's mobile, or kinetic sculpture, entitled France Forever, with the Cross of Lorraine, the tricolour and the black cloud of fascism

Alexander Calder's mobile, or kinetic sculpture, entitled France Forever, with the Cross of Lorraine, the tricolour and the black cloud of fascism. The work was made in 1942 and acquired by the French Musée de l'Armée in 2020 for 6 million euros

Architecture · Monarchies · Observations · Mores · Paris

In 1782 Marie Antoinette commissioned a hamlet at Versailles inspired by Rousseau

Inspired by Rousseau's idyllic descriptions of country life, in 1782 Marie Antoinette asked for a little hamlet to be laid out for her right within the grounds of Versailles. In the course of a single winter an entire village of peasant cottages and farms was raised for the

NB! · Observations · Society · Paris · Nature · Humour

Incidentally, Macron never did take the swim in the Seine he promised before the Olympics to prove how clean it is

Books · Paris

Mayakovsky on a journey to Paris, its ladies and the Place de l'Étoile

Ticket click. Cheek smack. A whistle and off we dashed to where, like herrings in the net of stockings, swim the globe-trotting ladies. Today he arrives an ugly brute of a fellow, and tomorrow just try to recognise him: in one go both the city and the mouth are

Faith · Observations · Society · Paris

Statement on the Paris Olympics opening ceremony and Europe's turning away from Christ

A remark that struck me as interesting, on the macabre concert given on Sunday by Metropolitan Theologos of Serres of the Greek Orthodox Church at the Monastery of Saint Paraskevi:. Unfortunately, we see that for several decades now, in a supposedly Christian Europe, conditions have been created that promote a

Faith · Observations · Society · Paris

The apologies of the Paris Olympics organising committee have somehow gone unnoticed: Anne Descamps, a spokeswoman for the organisers, offered a grudging and, of course, insincere apology for the offence caused by the mockery of Leonardo da Vinci's "Last

"It is clear that there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. On the contrary, I think, [together with the ceremony's artistic director] Thomas Jolly, we really tried to celebrate the tolerance of society. Looking at the results of the polls that we