Cultural program Cultural programme for researchers for

Cultural programme
programme for researchers 20072007-2008
Octobe
October : L’île de la Cité
La Conciergerie, which first collected the rents of all the shops in Paris, has soon been converted into a
prison and housed very famous prisoners of the French Revolution (Marie Antoinette, Danton and
Robespierre). Outside, you can discover the Tour de l’Horloge which received the first public clock of
Paris and which has been restored in the 19th century.
The Sainte-Chapelle which includes two chapels has been edified under Saint Louis to receive the
wreath of hawthorn and a fragment of the True Cross. The stained-glass windows, restored in the 19th
century and dating from the 13th century, relate scenes of the Old and New Testament.
Novemb
November : Arènes de Lutèce, rue Mouffetard et Panthéon
The Panthéon is the neoclassical building which receives all the important men of the nation:
Mirabeau, Pierre et Marie Curie, Voltaire, Rousseau…
Mouffetard Street is one of the oldest streets of Paris. From Gallo-Roman period, it has been the
starting point of the routes to Lyon and Roma. If you go down the street, you will see many typical
houses.
The amphitheatre of Lutèce, edificated between the 1st and the end of the 2nd century A.C., has been
rediscovered in 1869. They could receive 1,000 people. These are the only Parisian rests of the GalloRoman period, with the Cluny thermae.
No visit in December
January
January : Musée Carnavalet
This former XVIth century mansion, once the residence of the famous writer, Madame de Sévigné, in
the XVIIth century, has been transformed into the historical museum of the city of Paris. The interior
visit (rooms, furniture, paintings, street signs, documents) allows us to rediscover the Paris of past
centuries and to evoke the history of its most famous monuments. Madame de Sevigné’s apartments,
the monumental staircases, and the reconstitution of a XVIIIth century Paris café, let us imagine the
splendor and wealth of the residences of the Ancien Regime.
February : Invalides
Originally built as a hospital and a home for 4,000 disabled veterans of his military campaigns, the
Hotel Royal des Invalides is a major work of Louis XIV's reign and a masterpiece of French classical art,
especially the Dome, which was built by Mansart, the architect of the Palace of Versailles. We'll visit the
Dome church where Napoleon I, among others, is buried, the soldiers's Saint Louis Church, the Museum
of Relief Maps and -- to evoke the soldiers' daily life -- some of the rooms of the Army Museum,
formerly the soldiers's refectory..
MarCH
MarCH : Louvre and the Tuileries :
This walking tour evokes for us the rich and long history of the Louvre, from the origins of this fortress
turned into the residence of the kings of France to the first museum created during the French
Revolution and up to the present. Crossing the yards and galleries of the Louvre, we will see the Arc du
Carrousel and cross the oldest garden of Paris (roughly 75 acres), designed in the XVIIth century by
Andre Le Notre, the garden architect of Versailles, and recently redesigned to fit with the "Grand
Louvre" of the XXIst century, revamped by I. M. Pei. We'll see beautiful trees, pools and fountains as we
remember the history of the kings of France in Paris.
APril:
APril: Montmartre
Place of pilgrimage. Sacred-Heart basilica and Artist colony. These are the three most well-known
touristic aspects of Montmartre and we will stand in front of the church to see Paris stretching below
our feet in the distance. But there is another Montmartre, picturesque and less well-known, where you
can see the old medieval streets, the vineyards, the windmills, the fountains and studios of the
Impressionists, Renoir, Valadon, Toulouse-Lautrec, Utrillo, or those of the Bateau-Lavoir (Max Jacob,
Juan Gris, Vlaminck) where Cubism was born with Braque and Picasso.
MaY : Parc de La Villette
This urban park (roughly 150 acres) was designed by the Swiss landscaper Bernard Tschumi on the
former spot of the "city of blood, » where the slaughterhouses of the XIXth century that made this
quarter of Paris famous used to stand. We will walk from the Cité de la Musique (with the conservatory
and Music Museum) to the Cité des Sciences, through such off-the-beaten track spots such as the
Bamboo Garden, the vineyards, the acoustic organ, the dragon, the Geode multiplex cinema, and the
Argonaute submarine.
June:
June: daytrip to CHANTILLY
Former residence of the Condé family, the king's first cousins, the castel of Chantilly is a magnificient
example of architecture from the 14th to the 19th centuries, and above all a Renaissance masterpiece.
The Duke of Aumale, the King Louis-Philippe's son, who inherited it, transformed it into one of the
most interesting museums in the surroundings of Paris (manuscripts, tanagras, paintings, sculptures,
tapestries). The estate is composed of a French-style garden and an English-style hamlet. Its stables
were tranformed into a Horse Museum