Top 5 Paris Must-Do’s Near The Hotel Britannique:

1. Hotel Britannique is exactly 10 minutes from Notre Dame Cathedral and Point Zero (also known as Kilometre Zero – all highways are measured from this point; all of Paris is measured from this point… this is the very inner point of the « snail-shape » of Paris).
   (Click here to find events,  services, hours for Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris)
2. Hotel Britannique is exactly 5 minutes from Hotel de Ville, which is Paris’ City Hall.
   (Click here to find events and hours at Hôtel de Ville)
3. Hotel Britannique is less than seven blocks (less than a ten minute walk) from the Louvre – actually closer if you take another entrance besides the touristy I.M. Pei Louvre Pyramid.
   (Click here to find events, special exhibits, hours, cost, etc., for the Louvre Museum.)
4.  Hotel Britannique is 3 blocks (less than six minutes) from Pont Neuf – where lovers are seen kissing along the Seine!
5. Hotel Britannique is 3 blocks (less than six minutes) from the major department store, B.H.V., which has a hardware store in the basement (to drop off the husbands who are addicted to Home Depot), and French lingerie, clothing and household goods on the top floors.  In fact, if you love to shop, this is really the perfect hotel-close-to-department-store situation for you.

And an added plus…. the Hotel Britannique is six blocks from the Igor Stravinsky Fountain next to the Centre Pompidou, which houses the Modern Museum of Art in Paris.

Impressive scale maps from the reign of Louis XIV to the end of 19th century at the Grand Palais Paris

Exhibition visitors learn about France and its eventful past through the 16 spectacular pieces from the Musée des Plans-reliefs collections.

The impressive models on display depict the evolution of the borders and the difficult art of war.

The 1/600 scale maps were used for military and prestigious reasons as they provide an educational and realistic view of the towns as they were. These include Brest, which has since been disfigured by World War II’s bombs, the Italian town of Exilles which was once French and Saint-Omer, which was once Italian.

Not only do these incredible reproductions teach us about military strategies at the time, they present urban planning, the environment and stun us with their precise and numerous details.

La France en relief (1668-1870)

• January 18th – February 17th 2012
• Nef du Grand Palais
• Main entrance: Avenue Winston-Churchill – 75008 Paris
• Access : Metro lines 1, 9 and 13 – Champs-Élysées Clemenceau ou Franklin-Roosevelt stations
• Open: Daily except Tuesday, from 10am to 20pm
• Further information: here

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Presented for the first time in Europe, the exhibition of 130 masterpieces The Forbidden City at the Louvre – Emperors of China and Kings of France, on show at the Louvre Museum in Paris, will shed light on the relations that existed between the two countries from the 13th to 18th centuries.

The visitor will discover the portraits of the different emperors who ruled China during the period. The medieval moat of the Parisian museum houses an impressive scale model of the Forbidden City, capturing its full splendour.

The throne of the Emperor Qianlong, like his furniture in red wood, are on display in the Richelieu room, which has been transformed for the occasion into a true Treasure house!

During the exhibition, visitors can admire scores of objects on loan from China, which have never been seen before, including vases, jade objects, lacquer ware, calligraphy and ceremonial costumes.

The exhibition also examines the mutual admiration which marked the exchanges. For example, while we can see a portrait of the Emperor Yongzheng wearing a Louis XIV wig, one can also measure the level to which this oriental culture and art fascinated women, who from Mme de Pompadour to Marie-Antoinette, all clamoured to possess its creations.

Seeing these exceptional Chinese objects in the perspective of the works of the Louvre, helps transform this magnificent exhibition in a fascinating journey encompassing history, art and culture.

Louvre Museum :

The Forbidden City in the Louvre – Emperors of China and Kings of France

• Until January 9, 2012
• Open every day except Tuesday – From 9 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. (9:45 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays).
• Access: Metro lines 1 or 7, Palais-Royal/Musée du Louvre station
• Further information

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Across a collection of a thousand toys over the ages, this Parisian museum gives you the opportunity to dive into the world of childhood while also providing an insightful view of the development of human culture.

This original exhibition entitled Of Toys and Men is staged by the Grand Palais in Paris and jointly organised with the Helsinki Art Museum, who will host it as from February 2012. It brings together 1000 unique items, including some dating back to antiquity. The toys on display as part of this retrospective curated with the support of the Decorative Arts Museum in Paris, come from prestigious European museums as well as private collections and are organised around different themes including the world of animals, the media age along with sections for girls’ toys and boys’ toys.

As they wander through the exhibition, visitors will find themselves thinking about the role of toys in our lives, but also on the way these objects, so inseparable from childhood, have evolved over time, a mix of conforming to stereotype and true breaks with tradition.

While it asks both social and cultural questions, this exhibition is also full of magical, fun moments thanks to its stunning design. Teddy bears, dolls, robots and trains sit side by side the many visuals together with 15 original interactive installations created by the video artist Peirrick Sorin.

Fancy rediscovering your childhood? Well, here’s your chance to… play!

Of Toys and Men:

• Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris
• 14 September 2011 – 23 January 2012
• Further Information : Of Toys and Men
• Open every day (except Tuesdays) from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., late night on Wednesdays until 10 p.m. – Anticipated opening at 9 a.m. instead of 10 p.m. during All Saints and Christmas school holidays.

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At the heart of a fertile region, Pompeii was a flourishing commercial city, close to Naples. It was devastated and totally buried under volcanic ash during the eruption of Vesuvius in AD79. The first archaeological excavations began on the site in 1748, revealing the incredible richness of the site.

With its new exhibition entitled Pompéi un art de vivre (Pompeii, a luxurious lifestyle), the Musée Maillol lets us explore the refined lifestyle of the people of Pompeii, by visiting a faithful reconstructed domus pompeiana.

Pompeii was a place where wealthy Romans liked to live.

Their homes were little palaces richly decorated. Statues sculpted in marble, beautiful coloured mosaics, magnificent frescos… Art was present in all its forms.

Including an atrium with gardens and fountain, a triclinium, a culina, a balneum and a venereum, the typical domus pompeiana (Pompeii house) was equipped with an astonishingly modern infrastructure including an underground heating system, running water in every room, as well as connections to the centralised sewerage system.

Works from Pompeii and other sites of Vesuvius are on show at this beautiful exhibition. You can visit it until February 12, 2012 at the Musée Maillol in Paris.

Musée Maillol :

• 59/61, rue de Grenelle – 75007 Paris
• Opening hours:
  • Open 10.30am–7.30pm,
  • Friday night opening to 9.30 pm,
• Open every day (except 25 December and 1 January)
• Further information: Pompéi, un art de vivre

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Understanding chocolate helps you appreciate it more.. At this, now unmissable event, you can meet the cocoa producers, the best chocolate makers as well as all those who share a love of chocolate, that exceptional food item.

Many events ranging from the highly informative to the highly amusing will be held during the show which draws thousands of visitors each year. Chocolate awards, conferences, children’s workshops, a gourmet bookshop, a grand Alter Eco patisserie quiz… the programme is very full!

In a burlesque baroque setting, you can admire the originality and the prowess of the fashion show featuring chocolate dresses dreamed up by young designers. The guest of honour for the 2011 fashion show is the famous fashion designer, Chantal Thomass.

A very festive cocoa show will stage the rites and traditions of the cocoa producing countries.

Over 5 days, the salon du Chocolat with more than 400 exhibitors will be inviting you discover their latest, very scrumptious creations… difficult to resist!

Salon du Chocolat :

• October 20-24, 2011
• Paris, Porte de Versailles – Pavillons 5/2 & 5/3
• Every day, 10 :00 – 19:00
• Further Information: Salon du Chocolat Paris

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Organised in cooperation with the Petit Palais and the Musée des Beaux-Arts (fine arts museum) of the City of Paris, the Cézanne et Paris exhibition will showcase 80 major works of the artist, now acknowledged to be the precursor of Modern Art.

Cézanne dreamed of nothing but painting…

Paul Cézanne received a solid classical education in Aix en Provence; Emile Zola counted him amongst his friends at secondary school. While his father intended him to be a lawyer, Cézanne dreamed of nothing but painting. In the Spring of 1861, he left for Paris for the first time. While attending the Académie Suisse, he got to know Pissarro and Guillaumin. However, after failing the entrance exam to the Beaux Arts (Fine Arts school), he was forced to return to Aix and work in his father’s bank.

Yet Cézanne could not forget painting. A year later he returned to Paris and re-enrolled for the Académie Suisse. From then on, he alternated between visiting Paris and returning to Aix en Provence, his home town.

AIn Paris, he regularly visited the Louvre, making sketches and copying the paintings of the masters. Cézanne met Renoir, Monet, Sisley… Later his friend Zola, who encouraged him and also helped him financially, presented him to Manet. Paris inspired Cézanne, it brought him face to face with modernity as much as tradition.

It was only at the end of the 1870′s that Cézanne asserted himself with his personal painting style. His works only became of interest to critics, the art market and collectors after 1890.

Cézanne et Paris, Musée du Luxembourg, Paris

This beautiful exhibition illustrates the themes dear to Cézanne during his visits to Paris: views of the capital, landscapes in Ile de France, but also nudes, still life and portraits. The works on show have come from around the world, some are exceptional loans made by the Musée d’Orsay.

The exhibition in the Musée du Luxembourg in Paris, runs from October 12 to February 16 2012.

Musée du Luxembourg :

• 19 rue de Vaugirard, 75006 Paris
• Opening hours :
  • 9h – 22h, from Friday to Monday
  • 10h – 20h, from Tuesday to Thursday.
• Access : Metro line 4, St Sulpice or Mabillon Stations
• For further information: Cézanne et Paris exhibition.

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Romantic Saturdays at the Musée de la Vie Romantique in Paris

From September, the Musée de la Vie Romantique will be organising a guided tour every Saturday each covering different themes around Romanticism :

The dialogue between the different arts; the nods to Tout-Paris (as the Paris glitterati were called) that can be found in Ary Scheffer’s drawing room; talks on the famous people in the art world depicted in the Romantic lockets created by David d’Angers; an introduction to George Sand, the writer, but also the wife, the mother and the friend who was the incarnation of modernity between 1830 and 1860.

Guided tours of the permanent collections, Musée de la Vie Romantique, Paris

On the ground floor of the museum, devoted to George Sand, you can explore the portraits of the novelist along with furniture and jewellery from the 18th and 19th centuries.

On the first floor, 19 major works of the painter and his fellow artists are on show. Each of the four generations of the family, including the philosopher, Ernest Renan, husband to Cornélie Scheffer, the painter’s niece, have added touches to the studio cum drawing room, adding charm to the home.

History of the Maison Chaptal, home to the painter Ary Scheffer

At the end of a discreet lane, lined with hundred year old trees, stands a charming Italian house.

It was the home of the painter and sculptor Ary Scheffer from 1830 until his death in 1858. The Dutch-born painter added two studios where he worked, received his guests and lived.

The Dutch-born painter added two studios where he worked, received his guests and lived. Delacroix, George Sand and Chopin all lived close by, and Liszt, Rossini, Turgenev and Dickens visited Ary Scheffer. Maison Chaptal was a focus of inspiration for the Romantic Movement during the first part of the 19th century.

Cornelia Scheffer-Marjolin, only daughter of Ary Scheffer was determined to conserve the setting where her father worked and make his work better known.

Over the last hundred and fifty years, the house belonged to a family completely devoted to art and literature.

In 1953, the house was sold to the French State for a symbolic sum. In 1983, the City of Paris opened the Renan-Scheffer Museum.

Then in 1987, after a major renovation conducted by Jacques Garcia, it became the Musée de la Vie Romantique.

Musée de la Vie romantique, Hôtel Scheffer-Renan :

• 16 rue Chaptal – Paris 9ème
• Tél. : 01 55 31 95 67
• Detailed information (in French): Musée de la Vie Romantique

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Illuminations, masterpieces at the Louvre Museum in Paris

Illuminations used to decorate manuscripts the way today, photographs illustrate our books.

Over several centuries, decorative patterns, figurative scenes and dropped capital letters brought to life with bold colours were delicately painted by the illuminators on the parchments or treated animal skins in preparation for the writing. These images were occasionally embellished with gold or silver.

From the 17th Century, illuminations began to be appreciated for their artistic value and became highly collectable.

As a result many works were pulled apart and these illuminations were turned into small pictures. The Louvre Museum has built up a little known collection by gathering these magnificent pages over the years.

The Louvre will be displaying a beautiful selection from this collection until October 10 2011. On show will be seventy Italian, French, Dutch and German illuminations originating from historical, literary or liturgical manuscripts dating from the 11th to 16th Centuries.

You will discover true masterpieces created by Jean Fouquet, Lorenzo Monaco, Guillaume Vrelant and many others.

Presentation of the exhibition: Medieval and Renaissance Illuminations – Louvre Auditorium

Pier Luigi Mulas, Assistant Professor from the University of Clermond Ferrand II will present this exhibition on September 16 at 12.30 pm at the Louvre Auditorium, Paris. By reservation only.

Louvre Museum, Paris - Medieval and Renaissance Illuminations Exhibition:

• Detailed information: exhibition
• Presentation of the exhibition (in French): Louvre Auditorium.

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The exhibition Tragédiennes de l’Opéra honors the memory of opera singers, which opera and the Palais Garnier owe them a lot. Extravagant and mysterious, these divas knew considerable success, even internationally for some of them. Entirely to their art, to composers and their public, they have captivated many music fans.

Organized by the Paris National Opera and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, this exhibition revives the memory of some of these exceptional women such as Rose Caron, Gabrielle Krauss, Sybil Sanderson, Lucienne Breval or Aino Ackté, Emma Calvé, Mary Garden… they all were outstanding actresses with their voices and acting.

The rotunda of the Palais Garnier has been staged. Many objects, jewelry, model costumes, photographs and rare documents illustrate the splendor of opera. You will enjoy this beautiful exhibition until September 25, 2011.

PALAIS GARNIER :

• Exposition Tragédiennes de l’Opéra (1875-1939) jusqu’au 25 septembre 2011
  • Until September 25, 2011 – Every day from 10 :00 to 18:00
• Detailed Information: Tragédiennes de l’Opéra (1875 – 1939)
• At the corner of the Rue Scribe and the Rue Auber – Paris 9ème
  • Metro: Opera, lines n° 3 , 7, 8
  • RER : Auber station, line A.

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