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France

Pierre-Auguste Renoir's famed painting "Luncheon of the Boating Party" is the focus of a new exhibit in Washington, D.C.

Exhibit Sheds New Light on Renoir’s “Luncheon of the Boating Party”

More than 130 years after it was completed, “Renoir and Friends” returns to the famed painting

A painting of Claude Monet's wife and son by friend Pierre-Auguste Renoir that he owned

The Art Monet Owned

A new exhibit looks inside the mind of this influential Impressionist through the lens of the works he collected

This 1846 map of the solar system includes Vulcan as the planet closest to the sun.

Why Everyone Went on a Wild Goose Chase Looking for the Planet Vulcan

The idea of a ninth planet in the Solar System would resolve a mathematical conundrum about Mercury–only problem is, it wasn’t there

Notre-Dame Is in Desperate Need of Repairs

The archbishop of Paris has launched a fundraising campaign in the hopes of saving the historic structure

Parisian Nudists Get Designated Area to Frolic “au Naturel”

An increasing number of people in France espouse a clothing-free lifestyle

Brr.

The Father of Modern Chemistry Proved Respiration Occurred by Freezing a Guinea Pig

Where he got the guinea pig from remains a mystery

Pierre de Fermat left behind a truly tantalizing hint of a proof when he died—one that mathematicians struggled to complete for centuries.

The Romance of Fermat’s Last Theorem

Fermat left a lot of theorems lying around. Mathematicians proved them all–except one

Napoleon Bonaparte was born on this day in 1769 in Corsica. As a young man at school, one instructor said that he "has always been distinguished for his application in mathematics."

Napoleon’s Lifelong Interest in Science

Napoleon was a Frenchman of his time, which means he was interested in how science could do good–he just took it farther than most

Amedeo Modigliani, "Jeanne Hébuterne," 1918

Tate Modern’s Modigliani Exhibition Ventures Into Virtual Reality

The upcoming retrospective couples works by the famed modernist with the museum’s first VR experience

The Louvre Pyramid was completed in 1989 and is part of the entrance to the modern Louvre art gallery.

Three Things to Know About the Louvre’s History

The home of the Mona Lisa has a history that’s almost 1000 years long

One of the mosaics uncovered in Sainte-Colombe

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Discover a “Little Pompeii” in Eastern France

Fires in a Roman neighborhood in Sainte-Colombe helped preserve ancient homes, shops and artifacts

The United States's version of the Imperial system is based on an older British version.

America Has Been Struggling With the Metric System For More Than 200 Years

The United States is the one of the world’s only holdouts at this point, but it could have been the first country outside of France to adopt the system

200 Objects Damaged After Lightning Sets Fire to French Museum

Three paintings on loan from the Louvre are among the destroyed works

Thousands of Mysterious Yellow “Sponges” Wash Up On French Beaches

Though experts were initially stumped, the substance has now been identified

The 1759 cannonball

Cool Finds

Found: 200-Year-Old Cannonball From French and Indian War

Potentially still live, the incendiary device has been moved to a safe location to be neutralized

Museum Devoted to Camille Claudel, Long Overshadowed by Rodin, Opens in France

Her work has long been obscured by her dramatic personal life

Furano, Japan

12 Mesmerizing Places to Watch Flowers Bloom

Because there’s no better way exalt the end of winter than with millions of tulips, poppies and roses

Take a Tour of France’s “Bestiary of Machines”

Enter Les Machines de l’île’s Mechanical Animal Theme Park

Urban Explorations

There Are New World Heritage Sites, Here Are the Ones You Should Travel to Now

This year, 24 sites from across the globe have been added to the heralded Unesco list

The details of the replica (under construction last year), its area nearly the size of a football field, are based on 700 hours of laser scanning in the actual cave.

Finally, the Beauty of France’s Chauvet Cave Makes its Grand Public Debut

A high-tech recreation of the immortal artworks shines a new light on the dawn of human imagination

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