Musée des plans-reliefs
On the top floor of one wing of Les Invalides in Paris there is an unusual museum showing twenty-eight large relief-map models that were made starting in the seventeen century, Read More …
Tag: Vauban
Vauban’s Citadel in Lille
Historically, Lille was known as one of the most often besieged cities in western Europe. It belonged at various times to the County of Flanders, the Kingdom of France, the Read More …
Sustainable Model District Vauban
For 47 years after the Second World War, the French army maintained a large base in Freiburg, three kilometers south of the city center. The French base was called Vauban Read More …
Fine Arts Museum in Nancy
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. In Nancy I was Read More …
Vauban in Toulon
In 1679, the great military engineer Sébastien Le Prestre, marquis de Vauban (1633-1707), wrote that the harbor of Toulon was “the most beautiful and the most excellent of the Mediterranean Read More …
Vauban in the Invalides
Near Napoléon’s tomb in the Dôme des Invalides, in one of the side niches, is a monument to another remarkable man, Sebastian le Prestre de Vauban (1633-1707), a French military Read More …
Louis XIV and his Versailles Palace
My original intention was to ride around Paris on the Vélib’ bikes during the day and just come out to Versailles for the evening performance at the Royal Opera, but Read More …
The island of If
The island of IF (that’s really what it’s called) is the second smallest of the Frioul Islands, located four kilometers from the entrance to Marseille harbor. It is best known Read More …
The Aqueduct of Maintenon
From the train station of Maintenon there are two streets leading into town. The most direct one is the Avenue du Général de Gaulle, which runs straight downhill towards the Read More …