Quai Francois-Mauriac 75013 line 14, Grande Bibiliothèque, line 6, "Quai de la Gare" 62, 89. The mission of the Bibliotheque Nationale de France is to collect and conserve all works published in France, regardless of media, with the explicit purpose of making them available to researchers and professionals. Under French law, all publishers must deposit several copies of each work they publish in the Bibliotheque Nationale de France. History of the Bibliotheque Nationale de FranceIn 1368, Charles V, "the Wise", had his own personal library moved into the Louvre, in the Tour de la Fauconnerie. The inventory drawn up by Gilles Malet, guardian of the library, shows that the collection contained nine hundred and seventeen manuscripts. In those days, however,...
Bayeux is a small town that lies on the Aure River in Normandy, in the "county" of Calvados, not far from the English Channel. It is located 16 miles west-northwest of Caen and roughly 166 miles northwest of Paris. Bayeux is home to the famous tapestry which bears its name. (We offer a very popular overnight trip from Paris to Bayeux and the D-Day beaches) The town was first known as Baiocasses to the Gauls and Augustodurum to the Romans. The Romans later recast the town as a city named Civitas Baiocassium. Common misspellings of Bayeux are Bayuex, Bayueax, and Bayou. In the 4th century the town of Bayeux became headquarters for an early Roman Catholic bishop. Rollo, the Viking, captured the town in...
Beaubourg and Les Halles are Paris's most thriving public areas, with millions of tourists, shoppers and students flowing between them each year. Young people flock to Les Halles, shopping for the latest street fashions beneath the concrete and glass bubbles of the underground arcades. All roads from Les Halles appear to lead to the Pompidou Centre, an avant-garde assembly of pipes, ducts and cables which houses the Musée National d'Art Moderne (Museum of Modern Art). The smaller streets around the center are full of art galleries which make there home in crooked gabled buildings. The neighboring Marais, with some of the oldest surviving streets and buildings in Paris, was abandoned by its royal residents during the 1789 Revolution, and it...
Anchoring the center of France is the Massif Central, a rugged plateau of ancient granite and hardened lava, punctuated by volcanic peaks and deep river gorges. This is the land of the Auvergne, a region of natural beauty and dramatic landscapes, located midway between Paris and the Mediterranean sea. Believed to be inhabited since prehistoric times, regional artifacts suggest that the Celts lived here as early as 400 BC. Today, the Auvergne boasts some of France's most beautiful Romanesque churches, medieval castles, and Renaissance era palaces. The first cathedral to be built in present day Clermont-Ferrand was erected by Saint Namace in 450 AD, and rebuilt in the Gothic style beginning in the thirteenth century. In the medieval town of...
Alsace Alsace is the easternmost region of France. Located some 275 miles from Paris, the region is flanked on the west by the Vosges mountains and the Rhine river to the east. Alsace once was a region of Germany and became a permanent part of France during the reign of Louis XIV. Although, the region was annexed by Germany twice in modern times (1870-1918 and 1940-1945). Tourists find Alsace to be a magical place, with half-timbered houses, which feature gabled roofs, chimneys and beautiful floral arrangements. The mountain area of the upper Vosges is noted as one of the world's best hiking locations. Chefs in Alsace created one of Europe's great original dishes: choucroute. Choucroute is fluffy sauerkraut served with sausages, smoked...
