Faith · Art · Books · Museums · Paris · Nature

At the exhibition "The Medieval Bestiary" at the Musée de Chantilly: a Flemish manuscript of the late fifteenth century, the Mirror of Human Salvation, with a scene of the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise

On the wall of the Earthly Paradise sits a Peacock, which in the Middle Ages was associated with the sin of pride, the very pride that made Adam and Eve think they could be equal to God?

NB! · Coming Up · Art · Paris

In June, Christie's Paris Old Master sale will offer a melon still life by the eighteenth-century French painter Jean Siméon Chardin

In June, Christie's Paris Old Master sale will offer a melon still life by the eighteenth-century French painter Jean Siméon Chardin. Painted in 1760, it is in an oval format, a rarity for Chardin. The estimate is €8-12 million.

NB! · Art · Monarchies · Mores · Paris

Engraving of the masked ball of 23 January 1782, given by Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette in honour of the birth of Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France, their eldest son, born after 11 years of marriage

Engraving of the masked ball of 23 January 1782, given by Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette in honour of the birth of Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France, their eldest son, born after 11 years of marriage. Louis Joseph was a sickly child and lived only 7 years, dying of tuberculosis

Books · Heritage · Paris · Pop Culture

Chanel kept Karl Lagerfeld's personal library intact after his death

Karl Lagerfeld's Art Library in Paris, on the 7th Floor of 7 Rue de Lille. Lagerfeld's personal library consists of tens of thousands of books, gathered and arranged by Karl himself. The library occupies a room beneath a large glass skylight. In the adjoining space was

Architecture · Heritage · Mores · Paris

The proverb about the 13th arrondissement town hall in Paris and the history of the building

The French have a saying: to be married at the town hall of the 13th arrondissement. It means to live outside lawful wedlock. For until 1860 Paris had only 12 arrondissements. The 13th arrondissement appeared only in 1867, when construction of its town hall began. The building took 10 years

NB! · Archive · Architecture · Paris · Nature

Lightning Strikes the Eiffel Tower, Summer 1902

NB! · Art · Museums · Paris

A Little More Rothko from His Recent Exhibition at the Fondation Louis Vuitton

NB! · Architecture · Moscow · Museums · Paris

An Architectural Dialogue between the GES-2 House of Culture in Moscow and the Centre Georges Pompidou National Centre for Art and Culture in Paris

Architecture · Art · Museums · Observations · Paris

Mark Rothko retrospective at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris: impressions of the show

The Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris has closed its major retrospective of Mark Rothko (1903-1970), the most significant ever devoted to the artist. Since October it has unfailingly drawn formidable queues. They say that the scenography of the exhibition follows the artist's own instructions, but can one

Faith · Mores · Society · Paris · Ethnography

Mi-Carême in France: the Laundresses' Festival and the Election of Queens until the 1930s

For Catholics, the middle of Lent coincided with the French carnivalesque festival of Mi-Carême, which in Paris and its suburbs was celebrated on a very grand scale, with processions of coal-heavers, water-carriers, washerwomen and students. There were processions, parades, feasts, dances, parties, merry-go-rounds, fireworks and

NB! · Museums · Observations · Paris · Humour

Much in the world changes, but not the queues at the Louvre

Architecture · Monarchies · Mores · Paris

Louis XIV, who nearly drowned in the Palais Royal fountain, gave the palace to his brother

As a child, Louis XIV nearly drowned in a fountain of the Palais-Royal, then known as the Palais-Cardinal, where Anne of Austria moved from the Louvre with her two sons after the death of Cardinal Richelieu. Broadly speaking, this unpleasant incident, together with the thoroughly distasteful impression left