Bordeaux is one of six French cities with a ‘National Opera’, the others being Paris, Lyon, Strasbourg, Montpellier and Nancy. As I have noted in one of my Nancy posts, a ‘National Opera’ is an opera company that is partially financed by the Ministry of Culture in return for fulfilling Read More …
In the early years of the French Revolution, the Girondins were an important political group in the Legislative Assembly and the National Convention. Many of the Girondins came from Bordeaux, in the department of Gironde. When the Revolution turned nasty in 1793, most of the prominent Girondins were guillotined by Read More …
In 2014 the Grand-Théâtre in Bordeaux was open all summer for an exposition called Au-delà du miroir, which means “Beyond the mirror” or, as they translated it, “Through the looking glass”. The exposition was advertised as the last production of the Giulio Achilli, who is leaving Bordeaux after eighteen years Read More …
When I go to art museums I am always glad to see paintings on themes that I ‘know’ because they have also been made into operas. I noticed four of these at the Musée des Beaux Arts in Bordeaux. (Have I overlooked any?) The one in my first photo is Read More …
The Musée d’Aquitaine is a large museum of the history, culture and ethnography of the Aquitaine region, which includes the department of the Gironde and the city of Bordeaux. After exhibits on the pre-history of the region, the museum has a large section on Bordeaux in the Gallo-Roman period and Read More …
The CAPC is Bordeaux’s Museum of Contemporary Art. The initials CAPC stand for Centre d’Arts Plastiques Contemporains, which was the museum’s official name when it was founded in 1973. They have since changed the name slightly, but kept the old initials. The CAPC is located in an old warehouse near Read More …
Rue Sainte Catherine (often referred to informally as “Rue Sainte Cath”) has been car-free since 1977 and is now one of the most popular shopping streets in Bordeaux, with over 230 shops, stores and restaurants. The street connects two major squares, Place de la Victoire in the south and Place Read More …
Bordeaux is only two hours and nine minutes from Toulouse by TGV (“train of great speed”), but the two cities look and feel very different. They are both on the same river, the Garonne, but Bordeaux is closer to the ocean so it is breezier and cooler — at least Read More …
Bordeaux’s city tourist office is quick to admit that the Cathédrale Saint André cannot compete with the ones in northern France like Amiens, Chartres or Reims, but they say its “heterogeneous appearance has something unexpected and endearing, in particular its separate bell tower.” This cathedral is where Anne of Austria (who Read More …
Somehow I used to think that the cult of Joan of Arc was limited to northern France and was of little interest to the southern half of the country. After all, she lived and died in the North, and during her lifetime some parts of the South didn’t even belong Read More …