News & Topics

Nestled comfortably in what was once a quaint suburb of Faubourg Saint-Germain (now Paris’s upscale 7th arrondissement), the stunningly chic Hôtel Biron was built between the years of 1728 and 1730. The beauty of both its exterior and lushly appointed interior, no doubt struck the several artists who took temporary residence there, such as Jean Cocteau, Henri Matisse, and lastly, ... Read More »

  Opening on September 12, 2011—10 years after the devastating terrorist attacks on New York and Washington D.C.—the 9/11 Memorial will open publicly at the World Trade Center Complex in honor of those who died in the attacks on the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and in the plane crash near Shanksville, PA, as well the six individuals who died in ... Read More »

The “Great Palace” or Grand Palais, of Paris, France was constructed in 1897 along with its accompanying Petit Palais. This large museum complex was built in only three years in order to be ready for the World Fair of 1900, which showcased innovations in industry, business, and fine arts. Determined to assure that the complex would display the marvelous advancements ... Read More »

In 1858, when Emperor Napoleon III decided to visit the old opera house of Paris, an assassination plot was uncovered as bombs exploded near the opera house. The devastation of the attempt left the old opera house in desperate need of repair. Yet from the ashes of this tragedy emerged a breathtaking architectural sculpture designed by Charles Garnier. Read More »

Located across from the Opéra de Paris and designed by Charles Garnier, the same architect who built the future setting for the legendary novel and musical, The Phantom of the Opera, the Café de la Paix still stands proudly in the heart of Paris. Opened in 1862, preceding the grand opening of the stunning Opéra Garnier in 1875, the café ... Read More »

What is more quintessentially Parisian than a small café where guests sipped on coffee and nibbled on croissants? How about a café that also seconded as a meeting place every Thursday and Sunday for Impressionist masters Manet, Monet, Bazille, Renoir, writer Émile Zola and countless others to participate in lively discussions from 1866 to 1874? Read More »

Although it is one of the most well known museums in the world, not many know that Paris’s Musée du Louvre was once a fortress built under the reign of France’s King Phillip II in the 12th century. Since that time the Louvre had been remolded and extended to serve as the royal housing for numerous royal families of France ... Read More »

Already an established painter, Claude Monet was persuaded by a French statesman in 1914 to dabble in the artistic depiction of water lilies. Convinced to attempt his masterful hand at this next series of landscape paintings, Monet produced his marvelous Water Lilies arranged in a large-scale cycle. His condition for donating these works to the state was that they be ... Read More »