Books · Monarchies · Paris

In March 1814 Russian troops took Paris

Anton Delvig, Pushkin's schoolfellow, wrote a poem "On the Capture of Paris", printed in June 1814 in the "Vestnik Evropy" [Herald of Europe]. It contains these lines about Alexander I: "And the conqueror of Paris, tender father to the Russians, forgetting the ashes

Archive · Art · Observations · Paris

Haymaking on the Île aux Juifs in Paris in a Très Riches Heures miniature of the Duke of Berry

Happy start of summer, everyone! May June be as fruitful and bountiful as it is in the miniature from the Très Riches Heures of the Duke of Berry, dating from the middle of the fifteenth century. The miniature already shows the haymaking, for Europe is, after all, a little warmer.

NB! · Architecture · Paris

View of the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais from Above

Cinema · Paris · People · Pop Culture

Catherine Deneuve and her elder sister Françoise Dorléac on the Place Vendôme, 1965

Catherine Deneuve and her elder sister Françoise Dorléac on the Place Vendôme, 1965. Françoise Dorléac appeared alongside Deneuve in Jacques Demy's musical The Young Girls of Rochefort and in the film Where the Spies Are. Françoise was 18 months older than Catherine. Françoise Dorléac was a very well-

NB! · Archive · Society · Paris

Victory Day in Paris, 8 May 1945

Archive · Art · Books · Paris

The ballet “Parade” with costumes by Picasso failed in Paris and succeeded in London in 1919

"The geometrical dauber and dabbler Picasso has pushed himself to the front of the stage, while talented artists humbly wait to be put on show," wrote the critic Léo Poldès on 19 May 1917 of Diaghilev's new Russian ballet, Parade… The characters of the ballet: the

Art · Museums · Paris

"Apollo and Daphnis", Pietro Perugino, 1495

The identity of the figure with the flute is disputed: some believe him to be Daphnis, pining for love of a deity, while others see in the youth the satyr Marsyas. For a time the painting was exhibited in the Louvre under the title "Apollo and Marsyas". When

NB! · Art · Museums · Paris · People

There is a theory that the man in the red turban in the background of Van Eyck's "Madonna of Chancellor Rolin" of 1435 is the sitter of the "Portrait of a Man in a Red Turban" of 1433, in other words, the painter Jan van Eyck himself

Faith · Books · Museums · Paris

Behold the monstrance, like a golden sun, Hung in the air: a magnificent moment

Behold the monstrance, like a golden sun, Hung in the air: a magnificent moment. Here only the Greek language should be heard: A whole world is taken into the hands, like a simple apple. The solemn zenith of the divine service, Light in the round chamber beneath the dome in

Museums · Observations · Society · Paris

Six months ago I wrote about the warm-up exercises performed in the Louvre before "The Battle of Arbela", and now it has emerged that the Louvre and four major Parisian museums will take part in the events of the Olympic Games

Six months ago I wrote about the warm-up exercises performed in the Louvre before "The Battle of Arbela", and now it has emerged that the Louvre and four major Parisian museums will take part in the events of the Olympic Games. The Louvre, the Orsay, the Orangerie

Art · Monarchies · Mores · Paris · People · Humour

The Marquise de Montespan as Judith, Thriftily Holding On to the Severed Head of Holofernes

Once more, for the record: the Marquise de Montespan, mistress of Louis XIV and mother of seven of his children, in the guise of the Old Testament heroine Judith, the young widow who saved besieged Judea by cutting off the head of Nebuchadnezzar's general Holofernes, whom she had

Architecture · Faith · Heritage · Paris

Notre-Dame de Paris nearly lost on 15 April 2019 and the restoration of the cathedral

5 years ago, on 15 April 2019, humanity nearly lost one of the greatest structures of our era, the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris. They say that no more than half an hour remained before the masterpiece of a church was destroyed. The first stone of the Cathedral of