Sylvie Deschamps, France’s Master Artist of Gold Embroidery
An interview with Sylvie Deschamps, France's Master Artist of gold embroidery and director of the Bégonia d'Or workshop in Rochefort, an upriver port town in western France. Includes demonstration video.
Street Art: Gilles Sacksick, the Animal Painter… and Artist
A photo vignette about street art and scaffolding covers, featuring animals at the National Veterinary School in Maisons-Alforts, a wall painted with attitude in Paris's 10th arrondissement and the capital's historical judicial complex where, sadly, everyone is now sentenced to Life.
Jeanne Barret, the first woman to circumnavigate the globe
In 1765, Jeanne Barret, a young, peasant woman left a remote corner of rural France where her impoverished family had scraped a living for generations. She set out on a journey that would take her around the world from the South American jungles and Magellan Strait to the tropical islands of the Indo-Pacific.
An Ode to Guy Martin, Chef of Le Grand Véfour
From his youth as a rugged boy in the mountains to his position at the heights and forefront of French cuisine in Paris, Guy...
The Cranky Foreign Resident: I Love the French, But Sometimes…
Three years ago Polish contributor Justyna Gawąd, her French husband and their European son moved to the Anjou region of France from Warsaw. Justyna...
Dom Pérignon and the Birth of Champagne
As cellar master at the Benedictine Abbey of Hautvillers, Dom Pérignon was instrumental in development of clear, bubbly, cork-popping Champagne.
To Be Charlie: A French Lesson
Paris, January 2015 -- A French lesson: "être Charlie," to believe in the importance of freedom of expression (as the French would call it); a...
Beyond D-Day: Falaise, Normandy Examines the Fate of Civilians in Wartime
Of the 20,000 Normans who died as a direct result of WWII, the majority were killed by Allied bombardments. The effect of war on civilian populations is now the subject of a museum in Falaise, birthplace of William the Conqueror and site, with its surroundings, of the final combat of the Battle of Normandy 1944.
Insights into French Identity: 2012 National Commemorations in France
Every year the National Archives of France selects events of historical significance to highlight as national commemorations on the occasion of a multiple of their centennial or semicentennial, providing insights into the French national identity.