If time travel was possible, medieval carpenters would surely be amazed to see how woodworking techniques they pioneered in building Notre Dame Cathedral more than 800 years ago are being used again today to rebuild the world-famous monument’s fire-ravaged roof. Certainly the reverse is true for the modern-day carpenters using medieval-era skills. Working with hand axes to fashion hundreds of tons of oak beams for the framework of Notre Dame’s new roof has, for them, been like rewinding time. It’s given them a new appreciation of their predecessors’ handiwork that pushed the architectural envelope back in the 13th century. Part of the new wooden roof of the Notre Dame de Paris cathedral, Thursday, May, 25, 2023 is pictured near Angers, western France. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Schaeffer) ...
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Airbnb is offering a night for two in the Palais Garnier opera house in Paris this summer, transforming a box in the theatre into a plush bedroom with sweeping views of the famous auditorium. The "Phantom of the Opera"-themed stay - a nod to the novel by Gaston Leroux and Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical - comes as tourism bounces back in Europe after several years of pandemic disruptions, with visitors from the United States arriving in France in droves since last summer. A view shows the Loge d'honneur transformed into a bedchamber inside the Opera Garnier, during a media presentation of the space inspired by the Phantom of the Opera which will be rented through Airbnb to two people for one night, in Paris, France, January 3, 2023. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes European capitals are als...
Read MoreParis’ Champs-Elysees says it will be switching off the lights on the famed avenue hours earlier each night until further notice to help save energy as the war in Ukraine squeezes the electricity market in Europe. The plan announced Tuesday means that lights on the avenue will go dark at 10 p.m. instead of the current 1 a.m. It will take effect on Oct. 15. Shops on the avenue that remain open past 10 p.m. will “naturally” have an exemption, the committee governing the avenue said. The ruling affects dozens of luxury boutiques but will not affect public street lamps. FILE PHOTO: Spectators gather to attend the Champs Elysee Avenue illumination ceremony for the Christmas season, in Paris, Sunday, Nov. 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena) The avenue’s dazzling Christmas illuminations...
Read MoreWhen Notre-Dame de Paris suffered extensive structural damage in a major fire, most of the historic cathedral's stained glass was able to withstand the heat and the flames. But the windows were heavily soiled with smoke and dust which blocked external light and obscured the range of colours of the 170 years-old glass. More than three years after the massive blaze, eight glass manufactures from France have begun the painstaking operation to clean and restore 39 high windows in the medieval cathedral's nave, choir, transept and sacristy. FILE PHOTO: A view shows the reconstruction site at the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral, in Paris, France, July 28, 2022. Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt/Pool via REUTERS Flavie Serriere Vincent-Petit, head of the eponymous stained-glass company in Troye...
Read MoreThe Eiffel Tower is riddled with rust and in need of full repairs, but instead it is being given a cosmetic 60 million euro paint job ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, according to confidential reports cited by French magazine Marianne. The wrought-iron 324-metre (1,063 ft) high tower, built by Gustave Eiffel in the late 19th century, is among the most visited tourist sites in the world, welcoming about six million visitors each year. FILE PHOTO: A woman, wearing a mask, rides her bicycle near the Eiffel tower at Trocadero square in Paris during the nationwide curfew, from 7 p.m to 6 a.m, due to tighter measures against the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in France, April 26, 2021. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes However confidential reports by experts cited by Marianne ...
Read MoreIt’s the end of an era for the famed Lido cabaret on Paris’ Champs-Elysees. Amid financial troubles and changing times, the venue’s new corporate owner is ditching most of the Lido’s staff and its high-kicking, high-glamour dance shows — which date back decades and inspired copycats from Las Vegas to Beirut — in favor of more modest musical revues. Dancers, other employees and union activists are gathering Saturday in front of the Lido to try to save their jobs and the history of the cabaret, known for its dinner theater and its “Bluebell Girls” revue. Artists plan a performance to pay homage to the venue. FILE - Lido dancers Alicia, left and Charlenne pose during a photo call at the Lido cabaret on the Champs-Elysees avenue to take part in the Crystal Globes awards ceremony in P...
Read MoreOn a sunny afternoon this week, Eli Mwenda happily snapped pictures of his sister Rebekah Mithinji by the Eiffel Tower, two of many tourists enjoying a long overdue break in Paris after freezing holiday plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Paris trip for the siblings was a graduation gift for Mithinji, initially planned for 2020. Two years later they finally made it, with Mithinji travelling from Britain and Mwenda all the way from Kenya. Tourists walk near the glass Pyramid of the Louvre museum on a sunny day in Paris, France, May 11, 2022. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes "I'm so glad we made it, it's been such a long time coming," said Mithinji, all smiles under her sunglasses. "It's refreshing, feels like we're sort of going back to normal," added Mwenda. "Walking around the str...
Read MoreArchaeologists have found an ancient lead sarcophagus under Notre-Dame cathedral along with fragments of a rood screen, offering a new insight into the history of the building which is currently under reconstruction after a devastating fire in 2019. Notre-Dame, which dates back to the 12th century, commissioned the excavation works inside the cathedral as a precautionary measure before the installation of scaffolding needed to restore a 100-metre high wooden roof ridge. "The floor of the transept crossing has revealed remains of remarkable scientific quality," France's Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot said, adding that excavation works have been extended until March 25. The excavation site lies under a stony layer that dates from the 18th century, but some lower levels go b...
Read MoreDior is reopening its sprawling flagship store and a museum at the label's historic Avenue Montaigne site this week after a two-year revamp, the latest in a series of hefty real estate investments from luxury conglomerate LVMH in the French capital. The official opening of the complex, scheduled for March 6, follows on the heels of a flurry of inaugurations of new sites from the group in recent months, including a department store and two luxury hotels – the Cheval Blanc overlooking the Seine River and the Bulgari hotel on the tony Avenue George V. A view shows the 30 Montaigne, the original site of Christian Dior's first store, ahead of its reopening in Paris, France, March 2, 2022. REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier LVMH has benefitted from a post-pandemic boom in demand in high-end con...
Read MoreAfter a month wrapped in silvery-blue plastic as part of an art installation, Paris landmark the Arc de Triomphe was returning to its familiar form on Monday as work to dismantle the wrapping got underway. The plan to encase the 19th century arch was originally conceived by the late Bulgarian-born artist Christo and carried out posthumously by a team that included his nephew at a cost of about 14 million euros ($16.3 million). Rope access technicians work on the removal of the fully wrapped Arc de Triomphe monument, after it was wrapped for an art installation entitled 'L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped' conceived by the late artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude, on the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris, France, October 4, 2021. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier The installation was scheduled to run unt...
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