Marie Antoinette — a villain to some, victim to others — is endlessly fascinating. The ghost of France’s last queen has haunted myriad books, countless hours of screen time. The latest quest to understand this much-maligned but also much-admired woman is Marie Antoinette, an eight-part television series co-produced by the BBC and Canal+. Read on […]
Paris Architecture
Paris Heritage Days 2022: Programme Highlights
If you’re in Paris this weekend, you’re in for a treat … a.k.a the annual Heritage Days. If not? Schedule a future holiday to coincide with the third weekend of September, for this is when Paris (and the rest of France) celebrate the Journées du Patrimoine. On these Heritage Days, many historic yet private buildings […]
In Search of Catherine de Medici’s Paris
One of history’s most influential (not to mention infamous) leaders, Catherine de Medici still enthralls and intrigues the world five hundred years after her birth. Case in point: The Serpent Queen, the new period drama series based on Leonie Frieda’s best-selling biography, Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France. In 1533, the Florentine heiress, aged […]
The Best Paris Books of 2022 (So Far)
There’s something for every kind of Paris lover (and reader) in the latest batch of books that are inspired by or set in the City of Light. Do you like to stay up to all hours, page-turning on the edge of your seat? Or do you prefer uplifting tales of courage and romance against all […]