Boulogne-Billancourt, often colloquially called simply Boulogne, until 1924 Boulogne-sur-Seine) is a commune in the western suburbs, and 8 km (5 mi) from the centre, of the French capital Paris. Boulogne-Billancourt is a subprefecture of the Hauts-de-Seinedepartment and the seat of the Arrondissement of Boulogne-Billancourt. With an average household income in 2013 of €47,592, nearly twice the French average of €25,548, Boulogne-Billancourt is one of the wealthiest cities in France. Boulogne-Billancourt is the most populous suburb of Paris and one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe. Formerly an important industrial site, it has successfully reconverted into business services and is now home to major communication companies headquartered in the Val de Seinebusiness district. read more…
Le Marais (“The Marsh”) is a historic district in Paris. Long the aristocratic district of Paris, it hosts many outstanding buildings of historic and architectural importance. It spreads across parts of the 3rd and 4th arrondissements in Paris (on the Rive Droite, or Right Bank, of the Seine). In 1240 the Order of the Temple built its fortified church just outside the walls of Paris, in the northern part of the Marais. The Temple turned this district into an attractive area, which became known as the Temple Quarter, and many religious institutions were built nearby: the des Blancs-Manteaux, de Sainte-Croix-de-la-Bretonnerie and des Carmes-Billettes convents, as well as the church of Sainte-Catherine-du-Val-des-Écoliers. From that time to the 17th century and especially after the Royal Square (Place Royale, current place des Vosges) was designed under King Henri IV in 1605, the Marais was the French nobility’s favorite place of residence. French nobles built their urban mansions there such as the Hôtel de Sens, the Hôtel de Sully, the Hôtel de Beauvais, the Hôtel Carnavalet, the Hôtel de Guénégaud and the Hôtel de Soubise. read more…
Notre-Dame de Paris (French for “Our Lady of Paris”), also known as Notre-Dame Cathedral or simply Notre-Dame, is a historic Catholic cathedral on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris. The cathedral is widely considered to be one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture and among the largest and most well-known church buildings in the world. The naturalism of its sculptures and stained glass are in contrast with earlier Romanesque architecture. The cathedral is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Banks of the Seine and is one of the most visited attractions in Europe. Popular interest in the cathedral blossomed soon after the publication, in 1831, of Victor Hugo‘s novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. This led to a major restoration project between 1844 and 1864, supervised by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, who added the cathedral’s iconic spire (the rooster at the summit of the spire contained three relics: a tiny piece of the Crown of Thorns, located in the treasury of the Cathedral; and relics of Denis and Saint Genevieve, patron saints of Paris). While undergoing renovation and restoration, the cathedral caught fire on 15 April 2019 and sustained significant damage, including the destruction of the spire and two-thirds of the roof. First investigations showed that there was no structural damage and that the destruction was confined to the spire and the wooden roof above the stone vaulted ceiling. President Emmanuel Macron vowed that Notre-Dame would be rebuilt, which will lead to at least a decade of reconstruction work, while renovation works on old structures are generally never really completed. read more…
The Musée du Louvre (English the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre) is one of the world’s largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement (district). Nearly 35,000 objects (with overall around 380,000 objects in the depots) from prehistory to the 19th century are exhibited over an area of 60,600 square metres (652,300 square feet). read more…
Rueil-Malmaison is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, in the Hauts-de-Seine department. It is located 12.6 kilometers from the center of Paris. Rueil is famous for the Château de Malmaison where Napoleon and his first wife Joséphine de Beauharnais lived. Upon her death in 1814, she was buried at the nearby Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul church, which stands at the centre of the city. The Rueil barracks of the Swiss Guard were constructed in 1756 under Louis XV by the architect Axel Guillaumot, and have been classifed Monument historique since 1973. The Guard was formed by Louis XIII in 1616 and massacred at the Tuileries on 10 August 1792 during the French Revolution. At the end of the 19th century, Impressionist painters like Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edouard Manet and Claude Monet came to paint the Seine River which crosses the town. Rueil is (despite the title) the principal location of the novel Loin de Rueil by the French novelist Raymond Queneau. read more…
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…
