Marcel Proust: A Parisian Novel
In Search of Proust's Paris
Parisian Proustians were perplexed in 2021 by the scarcity of events celebrating the 150th anniversary of the birth of the great French writer Marcel Proust. Happily, the Musée Carnavalet’s exhibition “Marcel Proust: Un Roman Parisien (A Parisian Novel)” arrived just … Read More
The Louvre’s Egyptian Antiquities Department
Return to Egypt
All the major fine-arts museums in the world, and many smaller ones, have departments devoted to Egypt. One of the best is that of the Louvre, in small part thanks to the spoils Napoleon brought back from the country after … Read More
Hôtel de la Marine
A New Paris Museum
Built by a king, emptied by revolutionaries and then taken over by the French Ministry of the Navy for over two centuries, the palatial Hôtel de la Marine has opened its doors to the public for the first time in … Read More
Musée Carnavalet
Revamped Home for Treasures of Paris History
Anyone who loves Paris has to love the Musée Carnavalet, the museum of the city’s history, located in part in the stately 16th-century mansion in the Marais once occupied by one of its pre-eminent citizens, the famous aristocratic letter-writer Madame … Read More
Musée de la Grande Guerre
The War that Demolished a Civilization
With all the troubles the world is dealing with today, from the pandemic to the environmental devastation and extreme weather events caused by climate change, not to mention violent conflicts and political extremism, it is easy to forget some of … Read More
Reopening of the Galerie d’Apollon
The Crown (à la Française)
The king of France lost his head in 1793, and with him were lost all but one of the crowns that had sat on the heads of his Ancien Régime predecessors. What is left of the crown jewels of France … Read More
Musée de la Poste
It's in the Post (Office Museum)
Paris’s newly renovated Musée de la Poste (Post Office Museum) is far more than just heaven for philatelists (although it certainly is that, with examples of every stamp ever produced in France: 5,300 of them since 1849). In the tradition … Read More
Musée National de l’Histoire de l’Immigration
A Showcase for Changing Attitudes toward Immigration
Far, far from home, in a fastness of the 12th arrondissement near the Bois de Vincennes, stands the Musée Nationale de l’Histoire de l’Immigration. An Art Deco jewel, a celebration of newcomers past and present, and a slap in the … Read More
Cinémathèque Française
A Feast of Film Treasures
The Cinémathèque Française is a treasure that is sorely underused by visitors to Paris. This great institution is frequented mainly by French cinephiles, who are legion, but it also provides a valuable service to the world of international cinema: for … Read More
Lafayette Anticipations
New Marais Cultural Space
A major French luxury group is not a major French luxury group without its starchitect-designed foundation building. The Louis Vuitton Foundation scored big with Frank Gehry in the Bois de Boulogne, and the Pinault Foundation by Tadao Ando is set … Read More