Theme Week Paris – Arrondissement de Panthéon (5th)

20 October 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Paris / Île-de-France, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  10 minutes

Pantheon © ChrisO

Pantheon © ChrisO

Situated on the left bank of the River Seine, it is one of the central arrondissements of the capital. The arrondissement is notable for being the location of the Quartier Latin, a district dominated by universities, colleges, and prestigious high schools. The Ministry of Higher Education and Research has its head office in the arrondissement. The 5th arrondissement is also one of the oldest districts of the city, dating back to ancient times. Traces of the area’s past survive in such sites as the Arènes de Lutèce, a Roman amphitheatre, and the Thermes de Cluny, a Roman thermae.   read more…

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Theme Week Paris – Arrondissement de l’Hôtel de Ville (4th)

19 October 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, Paris / Île-de-France, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  12 minutes

Paris Town Hall © Pol

Paris Town Hall © Pol

Situated on the Right Bank of the River Seine, it is bordered to the west by the 1st arrondissement; to the north by the 3rd, to the east by the 11th and 12th, and to the south by the Seine and the 5th. The 4th arrondissement contains the Renaissance-era Paris City Hall. It also contains the Renaissance square of Place des Vosges, the overtly modern Pompidou Centre and the lively southern part of the medieval district of Le Marais, which today is known for being the gay district of Paris (while the more quiet northern part of Le Marais is contained inside the 3rd arrondissement). The eastern parts of the Île de la Cité (including Notre-Dame de Paris) as well as the Île Saint-Louis are also included within the 4th arrondissement. The 4th arrondissement is known for its little streets, cafés, and shops but is regarded as expensive and congested. It is desirable for those insisting on old buildings and multi-cultural exposure.   read more…

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Theme Week Paris – Arrondissement du Louvre (1th)

18 October 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, Paris / Île-de-France, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  9 minutes

Louvre © Benh LIEU SONG

Louvre © Benh LIEU SONG

Situated principally on the right bank of the River Seine, it also includes the west end of the Île de la Cité. The arrondissement is one of the oldest in Paris, the Île de la Cité having been the heart of the city of Lutetia, conquered by the Romans in 52 BC, while some parts on the right bank (including Les Halles included) date back to the early Middle Ages. It is the least populated of the city’s arrondissements and one of the smallest by area, a significant part of which is occupied by the Louvre Museum and the Tuileries Gardens. Much of the remainder of the arrondissement is dedicated to business and administration.   read more…

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Theme Week Paris

17 October 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, European Union, Bon voyage, European Capital of Culture, Paris / Île-de-France, Theme Weeks, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  10 minutes

Town Hall © Cédric Bonhomme

Town Hall © Cédric Bonhomme

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region. The city of Paris, within its administrative limits largely unchanged since 1860, has an estimated population of 2,193,031, but the Paris aire urbaine has a population of 11,836,970, and is one of the most populated metropolitan areas in Europe.   read more…

Fontainebleau Palace and Park

24 August 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  8 minutes

Fontainebleau Palace © Christoph Praxmarer

Fontainebleau Palace © Christoph Praxmarer

The Palace of Fontainebleau, located 55 kilometres from the centre of Paris, is one of the largest French royal châteaux. The palace as it is today is the work of many French monarchs, building on an early 16th century structure of Francis I. The building is arranged around a series of courtyards. The city of Fontainebleau has grown up around the remainder of the Forest of Fontainebleau, a former royal hunting park.This forest is now home to many endangered species of Europe and many people are trying to keep the forest safe from hunters and loggers. The palace introduced to France the Italian Mannerist style in interior decoration and in gardens, and transformed them in the translation. The French Mannerist style of interior decoration of the 16th century is known as the “Fontainebleau style”: it combined sculpture, metalwork, painting, stucco and woodwork, and outdoors introduced the patterned garden parterre. The Fontainebleau style combined allegorical paintings in moulded plasterwork where the framing was treated as if it were leather or paper, slashed and rolled into scrolls and combined with arabesques and grotesques. Fontainebleau ideals of female beauty are Mannerist: a small neat head on a long neck, exaggeratedly long torso and limbs, small high breasts—almost a return to Late Gothic beauties. The new works at Fontainebleau were recorded in refined and detailed engravings that circulated among connoisseurs and artists. Through the engravings by the “School of Fontainebleau” this new style was transmitted to other northern European centres, Antwerp especially, and Germany, and eventually London.   read more…

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