France

At the request of the Comité Champagne, Belgian officials destroyed 2,352 cans of Miller High Life for using the slogan the "Champagne of Beers."

European Officials Trash Thousands of Brews in Dispute Over 'Champagne of Beers' Slogan

The word is typically reserved for sparkling wine made in the Champagne region of France

Researchers uncovered 50 burials dated to roughly the second century C.E.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Discover Ancient Necropolis Near Parisian Train Station

Residents of Lutetia buried their dead at Saint-Jacques between the first and fourth centuries C.E.

A group of French Carthusian monks are the only producers of Chartreuse—and despite high demand, they aren't planning to increase production.

French Monks Are Driving the Chartreuse Shortage

Dating back to 1605, the closely guarded recipe is becoming increasingly popular

Mather Brown's portrait of Joseph Bologne, dated April 4, 1788

Based on a True Story

Why Has History Forgotten Joseph Bologne, the Brilliant 18th-Century Composer Showcased in 'Chevalier'?

A new film dramatizes the story of a Black immigrant to France whose musical talents have long been overlooked

Peter J. Ortiz receives the first of the two Navy Crosses he was awarded for extraordinary heroism during World War II.

The American Spy Who Surrendered to the Nazis to Save Civilians

In 1944, Pierre Julien Ortiz parachuted into occupied France, where the Gestapo offered a reward of half a million francs for his capture

Cher, Elton John and Diana Ross at Rock Awards Santa Monica Civic Auditorium (1975)

London Museum Celebrates the Diva—From Marilyn Monroe to Lizzo

An upcoming exhibition will explore how the label has been applied to performers throughout history

A candlelit dinner in Scandinavia

Mimi Sheraton’s 10 Most Memorable Meals

From dinner by candlelight in Denmark to Peking duck in China, the celebrated food critic reveals her most memorable culinary experiences

Edgar Degas painted Édouard Manet and His Wife in the 1860s, but his friend was not a fan.

Manet and Degas Were Dear Friends—and Spirited Rivals

The complex relationship between the two French painters is the subject of a new exhibition in Paris

Parisians voted to ban for-rent electric scooters.

Parisians Vote to Ban For-Rent Electric Scooters

In a referendum on Sunday, city residents overwhelmingly opted to do away with the iconic mode of transportation

Claude Monet's 1874 portrait of his brother Léon

Claude Monet's Older Brother Helped Shape the Impressionist Movement

A new exhibition explores the legacy of Léon Monet, who taught Claude about color and purchased his art

Picasso in Place Ravignan in Montmartre in 1904

Why French Authorities Placed a Young Pablo Picasso Under Surveillance

Police suspected the 19-year-old Spanish expatriate of harboring anarchist views

An aerial view of the ongoing efforts to reconstruct Paris' Notre-Dame Cathedral, pictured in June 2021

Cool Finds

The 2019 Notre-Dame Fire Revealed Iron Staples Holding the Cathedral Together

The Paris landmark is the first known Gothic cathedral to use iron in this way, researchers say

“Marie Antoinette,” a new series premiering in the United States on March 19, is the first major English-language television show to tell the French queen’s story.

Based on a True Story

Why Marie Antoinette's Reputation Changes With Each Generation

A new television series portrays the French queen as a feminist, drawing criticism from historians

The Source of the Lison (1864) by Gustave Courbet

Cool Finds

Workers Stumble Upon Lost Courbet Painting in University Basement

After a years-long authentication process, “The Source of the Lison” goes on display in Philadelphia

The hazy quality of works like Turner's Rain, Steam and Speed (1844) was influenced by air pollution, a new study says.

Art Meets Science

Did Air Pollution Influence Famous Impressionist Painters?

Artists like Turner and Monet painted the smog they saw in London and Paris, a new study says

Archaeologists created replica stone points, then experimented with them by firing them at a goat carcass using different methods.

Cool Finds

Archery May Have Arrived in Europe Thousands of Years Earlier Than Thought

New archaeological research suggests Homo sapiens used bows and arrows 54,000 years ago in present-day France

Two lucky visitors will spend the night inside the Palais Garnier, exploring the historic opera house and enjoying private tours and other perks.

Parisian Opera House That Inspired 'Phantom of the Opera' Becomes an Airbnb

For just one night, two travelers will spend the night in the Palais Garnier’s Box of Honor

Pierre-Auguste Renoir's Marine Guernsey (1883) is one of four paintings that the Musée d’Orsay will restitute to heirs of Ambroise Vollard.

French Court Orders Musée d’Orsay to Restitute Masterpieces Stolen During World War II

Descendants of art dealer Ambroise Vollard won a legal battle over works by Renoir, Cézanne and Gauguin

The Djidji Ayôkwé was kept at the Quai Branly Museum in Paris for about a century.

French Museum Will Return 'Talking Drum' to Ivory Coast

Colonial settlers seized the ten-foot-long wooden instrument in 1916

At the Paris World's Fair a powerful display of hand-drawn diagrams (above: Income and expenditure of 150 Negro families in Atlanta, Ga.,U.S. designed by W.E.B. Du Bois and his students) called attention to the unrecognized contributions of Black Americans. The fragile posters are being rotatated in and out of an exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum through May 2023.

How W.E.B. Du Bois Disrupted America’s Dominance at the World’s Fair

With bar graphs and pie charts, the sociologist and his Atlanta students demonstrated Black excellence in the face of widespread discrimination

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