Cultural programprogrammemememe for researchers 20072007----20082008

OctobOctobeeeerrrr : L’île de la Cité

La Conciergerie, which first collected the rents of all the shops in , has soon been converted into a prison and housed very famous prisoners of the (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 19 th 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 19 th century and dating from the 13 th century, relate scenes of the Old and New Testament.

NovemNovembbbbeeeerrrr : 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 1 st and the end of the 2 nd century A.C., has been rediscovered in 1869. They could receive 1,000 people. These are the only Parisian rests of the Gallo- Roman period, with the Cluny thermae.

No visit in December

JanJanuaryuary : 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 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 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 , formerly the soldiers's refectory..

MarMarCHCHCHCH : 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 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 XVII ththth century by Andre Le Notre, the garden architect of Versailles, and recently redesigned to fit with the "Grand Louvre" of the XXI ststst 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.

APAPAPril:AP ril: 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.

JuneJune:: 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 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