France
Recent Articles
Émile Zola and the Dreyfus Affair
Émile Zola is remembered as one of France’s greatest novelists, but his place in the Panthéon reflects more than his literary achievements. He is also honored for taking a public stand against injustice during the Dreyfus Affair, one of the most divisive political and judicial scandals in modern French history. Alfred Dreyfus was a Jewish […]
The Louvre Museum
The exterior of the Louvre reveals the long history of a building that was never created according to a single plan. Its courtyards, wings, pavilions and richly ornamented façades developed over centuries as successive rulers altered and expanded the structure to reflect their own needs and ambitions. The story began around 1190, when King Philip […]
The Panthéon
During our family vacation to France, we visited the Panthéon in the Latin Quarter of Paris. Its massive columns, triangular pediment, and soaring dome give it the appearance of an ancient temple standing in the middle of the modern city. The building was commissioned by King Louis XV as a church dedicated to Saint Geneviève, […]
The Gates of Hell
During our time in Paris, we encountered one of Auguste Rodin’s most ambitious creations, The Gates of Hell. More than six meters high and filled with nearly two hundred twisting, falling, and struggling figures, the monumental sculpture presents a vision of humanity suspended between suffering, judgment, and despair. Rodin received the commission from the French […]
The Artists of Montmartre
During our family visit to Paris, we explored Montmartre, the historic neighborhood that rises above the city on its northern side. This photograph of our daughters was taken among the artists’ stalls near the Place du Tertre, not far from the Basilica of Sacré-Cœur. By the late nineteenth century, Montmartre had become home to a […]
The Seine from the Eiffel Tower
From the Eiffel Tower, our family looked out across the Seine as it curved through Paris. From this height, the city appeared less like a collection of individual monuments and more like an interconnected landscape shaped by the river, its streets, and the neighborhoods extending toward the horizon. The Seine has influenced the growth of […]
Van Gogh’s Landscape
Visiting museums was an important part of our daughters’ homeschooling. Museums hold many of our cultural treasures, preserving the paintings, objects, and stories through which we encounter the past. But there is another kind of learning that takes place when we leave the museum and enter the landscape that inspired the art displayed within it. […]
The Winged Victory of Samothrace
Of course, our family vacation in France had to include a visit to the Louvre. We explored its galleries and encountered many of its celebrated works, but this photograph captures our approach to one of the museum’s most dramatic masterpieces: the Winged Victory of Samothrace. Created around 200–175 BC, the marble sculpture represents Nike, the […]
Notre-Dame de Paris
When our family traveled to France in 1997, one of the places we visited was Notre-Dame de Paris. Standing on the Île de la Cité in the Seine, the cathedral has occupied the historic and spiritual center of Paris for more than eight centuries. Long before the Eiffel Tower became the city’s most recognizable landmark, the […]
Château de Chenonceau
Our family vacation in France included time in the Loire Valley, a region known for its historic towns, vineyards, and magnificent châteaux. Among the most memorable was Château de Chenonceau, an elegant Renaissance residence built across the River Cher. Its history is so closely connected with the women who created, protected, and transformed it that […]
Musée d’Orsay
When we traveled to France as a family around 1997, Paris offered an almost overwhelming number of historic buildings, monuments, churches, and museums to explore. Among all the places we visited, the Musée d’Orsay became one of our favorites. It combined an extraordinary collection of art with a building whose own history was as memorable […]
Victor Hugo’s Standing Desk
Victor Hugo was known for writing while standing, and this desk was arranged to accommodate that lifelong habit. Rather than being made as a single piece, it was assembled from existing furniture: a small secretary with drawers was placed upon a narrow table or shelf, raising the writing surface to the height Hugo required. The […]
