Paris in Bleu Blonde Rouge

It rises from one of Paris's most symbolic places and predates the city itself. The Luxor Obelisk and its pair date to the 13th century BC and were commissioned by Ramses II. On October 25, 1836, 190 years ago this week, Louis-Philippe erected and inaugurated the long-awaited obelisk in the center of the Place de la Concorde, the virtual epicenter of Paris. But how did it get here, and why? Well, that’s what I am here to share with you. For more info and photos, visit...

One year ago today, the unthinkable happened. On a quiet Sunday morning, as Paris woke up, four thieves pulled off the heist that would shock the world. It was October 19, 2025, along the Quai François Mitterrand, below the window of the Petit Galerie at the Musée du Louvre, when four criminals parked their stolen nacelle truck. In under 8 minutes, two men entered the gilded Galerie d’Apollon armed with two large angle grinders, cut through the bulletproof cases, and left with the Frenc...

On October 16, 1793, the blade fell and ended the life of Marie Antoinette. Today, 233 years later, she remains one of the world's most popular figures. This autumn, two exhibits have opened at the Château de Versailles and Fontainebleau, and stacks of books dedicated to her sell in nearly every bookstore worldwide in every imaginable language. Of course, the myth of the former queen often expands far past who she really was. And today, when people rarely have an attention span beyond 2...

On April 18, 1946, Christian Dior was walking down the Rue Saint Honoré and stumbled upon a cast-iron star at the edge of the sidewalk. During WWII, Dior worked for the Lucien Lelong fashion house alongside Pierre Balmain, negotiating the Occupation years in Paris. Coming out of the fog of war and at a crossroads, Dior ran into a childhood friend, Georges Vigouroux, who was working at the Philippe & Gaston fashion house. Dior’s old chum told him they were looking for a new des...

On the first day of each season at true noon, inside the Église Saint-Sulpice, the sun hits a small hole in the window high above the south transept, and on the spring and autumn equinox, it hits a brass marker just inside the altar. But why, you ask? It goes back almost three hundred years, to 1727, when the parish priest Jean Baptiste Languet de Gergy wanted to ensure the exactitude of the ecclesiastical calendar, particularly Easter and the moment the bells should ring. Clockma...