France Travel

JR's newest illusion seemingly opens up a ravine in front of the Eiffel Tower.

Dazzling Illusion Creates Gaping Canyon Beneath the Eiffel Tower

Street artist and photographer JR unveiled his latest large-scale installation last month

Photographed in late April while still under construction, LUMA Arles is no skyscraper at 184 feet tall, but it towers over neighbors in the ancient city.

A New Frank Gehry Tower Rises Above the Quaint French Town of Arles

The city best known for its association with Vincent van Gogh now has a new, controversial art center

A close-up look at one of the pieces of stolen armor

Authorities Recover Intricate Renaissance Armor Stolen From the Louvre in 1983

An appraiser's quick thinking helped recover the treasures, which vanished from the Paris museum 38 years ago

The new plan creates more space for pedestrians and trees.

Paris' Champs-Élysées to Be Transformed Into an 'Extraordinary Garden'

The French avenue's "green makeover" won’t be finished until after the city's 2024 Summer Olympics

Notre-Dame's Grand Organ, as seen before the April 2019 fire

Inside the Monumental Effort to Restore Notre-Dame's Grand Organ

Workers spent four months painstakingly dismantling the musical instrument, which is only set to sound again in 2024

The winner (and one guest) will be invited to attend the Mona Lisa's annual inspection—one of the few times the work emerges from behind bullet-proof glass.

How You Could Be One of the Only People in the Room With the 'Mona Lisa'

A Christie's auction benefitting the Louvre offers a winning bidder the chance to attend the painting's annual inspection

Édouard Dubufe’s portrait of Bonheur, embellished with a bull that Bonheur herself added, is on view in Bonheur’s meticulously preserved studio.

The Trailblazing French Artist Rosa Bonheur Is Finally Getting the Attention She Deserves

She was an international superstar. And then she was ignored. Now one family is working fervently to restore the forgotten genius to greatness

A thick cloud of smoke floats up from the Notre-Dame Cathedral as it burns, on April 15, 2019.

Lead From Notre-Dame Fire Discovered in Parisian Beehives

The findings indicate that honey can provide important evidence of environmental pollution, scientists say

A 1905 postcard overlaid with Vincent van Gogh's 1890 painting of the same spot

Art Historian Identifies the Spot Where Vincent van Gogh Painted His Final Work

The Dutch artist died 130 years ago today

A fire at Nantes Cathedral destroyed stained-glass windows and a 17th-century organ.

Arsonist Confesses to Starting Nantes Cathedral Fire

The July 18 blaze, which inflicted less damage than the devastating April 2019 inferno at Notre-Dame, destroyed the French church's organ, stained glass

The global health pandemic has challenged the most visited museum in the world to draft new visitor guidelines that meet health and safety requirements.

How the Pandemic Is Giving the Louvre Back to Parisians

With a steep drop in international tourists and new COVID-19 safety measures in place, the most visited museum in the world reopened yesterday

This week's selections include Enemy of All Mankind, Who Ate the First Oyster? and Daughter of the Boycott.

A Notorious 17th-Century Pirate, the Many Lives of the Louvre and Other New Books to Read

The seventh installment in our weekly series spotlights titles that may have been lost in the news amid the COVID-19 crisis

A footpath weaves through ferns and trees on Denecourt Trail No. 6. The designer made sure the paths meandered around interesting features.

The Invention of Hiking

Follow the Frenchman who remade the woods surrounding a royal estate into the world’s first nature preserve

Restoration work at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris has paused as France works to control the spread of COVID-19.

Notre-Dame Restoration Pauses Amid France's Two-Week Lockdown

Lead decontamination policies enacted in August are now in conflict with measures to prevent spread of COVID-19

Félicette, a former stray who was sent into space by French researchers in 1963, now has a bronze statue in her honor at France's International Space University.

Félicette, the First Cat in Space, Finally Gets a Memorial

Last month, a team unveiled a bronze statue honoring the feline, who launched on a suborbital mission in 1963

Photographer Charles Marville captured this snapshot of an open-air urinal with three stalls in 1865.

How Paris' Open-Air Urinals Changed a City—and Helped Dismantle the Nazi Regime

During World War II, the stalls served as rendezvous points for French Resistance fighters

The Paris Aquarium rescues unwanted goldfish and gives them a home.

The Paris Aquarium Is Giving Unwanted Goldfish a Second Chance

The sanctuary is home to 1,000 fish and counting

The Bayeux Tapestry tells the story of William the Conqueror's invasion of England.

Architecture and Math Show the Bayeux Tapestry Was Designed to Decorate a Cathedral

A new study proposes a convincing explanation for the 11th-century tapestry's creation

The underground shelter was transformed into a Resistance command post the week before Paris' liberation

Paris Basement Used as WWII Resistance Headquarters Transformed Into Museum Centerpiece

The soon-to-open museum also explores the lives of Resistance leaders Jean Moulin and General Leclerc

Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece is normally housed in the Louvre's Salle des États gallery

People Aren't Happy About Their Increasingly Brief Encounters With the ‘Mona Lisa’

The problem stems from the masterpiece's temporary relocation to a different wing of the museum

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