Show Notes
The debate surrounding the new stained-glass windows of Notre-Dame de Paris has reignited a familiar question: how much of the past should be preserved, and how much should be reimagined? In this episode, we explore the controversial plans to replace historic windows in the cathedral and place the discussion within a much larger story. From revolutions and restorations to political movements and changing artistic tastes, history is filled with examples of cultural treasures being altere...
More from Paris in Bleu Blonde Rouge
One year ago today, the unthinkable happened. On a quiet Sunday morning, as Paris woke up, four thieves pulled off the heist that would shock the world. It was October 19, 2025, along the Quai François Mitterrand, below the window of the Petit Galerie at the Musée du Louvre, when four criminals parked their stolen nacelle truck. In under 8 minutes, two men entered the gilded Galerie d’Apollon armed with two large angle grinders, cut through the bulletproof cases, and left with the Frenc...
On October 16, 1793, the blade fell and ended the life of Marie Antoinette. Today, 233 years later, she remains one of the world's most popular figures. This autumn, two exhibits have opened at the Château de Versailles and Fontainebleau, and stacks of books dedicated to her sell in nearly every bookstore worldwide in every imaginable language. Of course, the myth of the former queen often expands far past who she really was. And today, when people rarely have an attention span beyond 2...
On April 18, 1946, Christian Dior was walking down the Rue Saint Honoré and stumbled upon a cast-iron star at the edge of the sidewalk. During WWII, Dior worked for the Lucien Lelong fashion house alongside Pierre Balmain, negotiating the Occupation years in Paris. Coming out of the fog of war and at a crossroads, Dior ran into a childhood friend, Georges Vigouroux, who was working at the Philippe & Gaston fashion house. Dior’s old chum told him they were looking for a new des...
On the first day of each season at true noon, inside the Église Saint-Sulpice, the sun hits a small hole in the window high above the south transept, and on the spring and autumn equinox, it hits a brass marker just inside the altar. But why, you ask? It goes back almost three hundred years, to 1727, when the parish priest Jean Baptiste Languet de Gergy wanted to ensure the exactitude of the ecclesiastical calendar, particularly Easter and the moment the bells should ring. Clockma...
Anne d’Autriche was born on September 22, 1601, 425 years ago today. The wife of Louis XIII and the mother of Louis XIV has emblazoned her story into the history books, but it’s a set of rooms within the Louvre that really makes her legacy shine. Today’s episode focuses on the suite of rooms within what was once the Palais du Louvre where the queen mother would spend her summer days and was created for her by her son, the Sun King. The ceilings include scenes from mythology, allegories...