In pre-Covid times, it was not uncommon to see hundreds of people queuing to get into the Louvre, the world’s largest museum. I took these photos on a rainy Sunday afternoon in 2013 from inside the museum, where I was spending the day with the Belgian art connoisseur Eddy Dijssel Read More …
Later in the afternoon, Eddy suggested that we look for the paintings of Claude Lorrain, which he hadn’t seen for a long time. I thought this was a good idea, since I had missed the big exhibition called “Claude Lorrain — The Enchanted Landscape” at the Städel Museum in Frankfurt Read More …
The Louvre, being such a huge museum, is divided up into three “wings”: The big hollow square at the back, meaning the East, is called the Sully Wing, named after Maximilien de Béthune, the first Duke of Sully (1560–1641), who was the finance minister and chief advisor to King Henry Read More …
On the first floor of the Richelieu Wing of the Louvre in Paris there are several large rooms devoted to sixteenth-century Renaissance tapestries. In 2013, I had the privilege of going through these rooms with Eddy Dijssel (formerly “brueghel” on VirtualTourist), who is a connoisseur not only of paintings but Read More …
When I was a child, I loved the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, so I was confident I would also like the one in Paris — and I do. The one in Paris is officially called the Cité des sciences et de l’industrie, with sciences in the plural Read More …
Nearly a thousand musical instruments and works of art are on display at the attractive and informative music museum in the Parc de la Villette in Paris. The permanent exposition covers the two hundred years from the beginning of the 17th century to the end of the 19th. At the Read More …
This “Institute of the Arab World” was built in the 1980s and was inaugurated on November 30, 1987 by the President of the French Republic, François Mitterrand. The institute is intended as a “cultural bridge” between France and twenty-two Arab countries. From the top (ninth) floor there is a fine Read More …
This free museum in the Marais district belongs to the City of Paris and is devoted to the history of the city from its earliest beginnings to present times. In addition to documents, statues and antique furniture, the Musée Carnavalet also features hundreds of original paintings that illustrate various epochs Read More …
The Museum of the Sewers is one of the few places in Paris that was not closed down by the coronavirus pandemic — but only because it was already closed for other reasons. This museum, which is in fact down in the sewers at the south end of Alma Bridge, Read More …
After my glorious military career of one year, nine months and thirteen days as a draftee in the American Army (including fifty-one weeks in Vietnam), I am not exactly what you would call a military buff. In fact I never thought I would voluntarily set foot in an army museum, Read More …