NB! · Archive · Architecture · Monarchies · Paris

The Russian Pavilion at the 1900 Paris World's Fair stood on the Avenue Nicolas II, which ran from the bridge of Alexander III, whose foundation stone the Emperor had laid, to the Champs-Élysées

NB! · Monarchies · Observations · Mores · Paris

I remember how, at the house of Georges Clemenceau, a lady could not make out who it was with the salamanders

I remember how, at the house of Georges Clemenceau, a lady could not make out who it was with the salamanders. Whereupon I, in short trousers, explained that the salamander is the emblem of Francis I, and that it often lurks in his portraits

NB! · Monarchies · Museums · Paris · People

The Dress in Which Marie Antoinette Was Executed

Archive · Books · Paris · People

Ten years ago Christie's sold Sanson's letter addressed to Jacques-Antoine Dulaure, editor of the "Annales patriotiques", in which he tells the truth about the death of "Citizen Louis Capet" in order to put a stop to conjecture and false claims about how…

Charles-Henri Sanson kept diaries, though it is not known whether they formed the basis of the volumes published in the 1860s. There are grounds for thinking that these may have been a free interpretation of history in another's hand, and that Sanson's grandson may have

NB! · Archive · Monarchies · Paris · People

From the testimony of the executioner Sanson we know of the dignity with which Louis XVI met his death

From the testimony of the executioner Sanson we know of the dignity with which Louis XVI met his death. His last words are held to have forgiven his murderers and to have prayed for the fate of France

NB! · Archive · Monarchies · Paris · People

This portfolio holds the notes of the Parisian executioner Charles-Henri Sanson on the execution of Louis XVI

This portfolio holds the notes of the Parisian executioner Charles-Henri Sanson on the execution of Louis XVI. Sanson executed the king, the queen, Robespierre and Danton. In all, the executioner's tally stands at some 3,000 lives

NB! · Architecture · Monarchies · Paris

Versailles in the Evening

NB! · Science · Paris · People

And this is for you, in honour of the 270th anniversary of the birth of Louis-Abraham Breguet, who for many years worked in his stepfather's watchmaking workshop entirely for free: the man knew that in the end the boy would get his due

NB! · Faith · Monarchies · Museums · Heritage · Paris

The fate of the golden casket holding the heart of Anne of Brittany was a sorry one: after its desecration by vandals, the reliquary was sent to the melting pot

The fate of the golden casket holding the heart of Anne of Brittany was a sorry one: after its desecration by vandals, the reliquary was sent to the melting pot. By a miracle it ended up not as scrap gold but in the National Library in Paris

NB! · Archive · Museums · Paris

The Army of the Louvre's Custodians, 1972

Interior of the central nave of Notre-Dame with a large ornate carpet, red rope barriers, chandeliers and exhibition panels.

NB! · Architecture · Faith · Paris

The central nave of Notre-Dame Cathedral can hold a twelve-storey building

Welcome to Notre-Dame! The central nave of the cathedral could hold a twelve-storey building

NB! · Archaeology · Art · Museums · Paris · People

4 January: the birth of Vivant Denon, artist, Egyptologist, collector and first director of the Louvre

4 January: the birth of Vivant Denon, artist, Egyptologist, collector and first director of the Louvre. He accompanied Napoleon on the Egyptian campaign and, in his spare time, cultivated the friendship of Catherine the Great and Madame de Pompadour