Museum

Explore French museums for free this Saturday evening

Giant game of Cluedo, escape games and many other unique events on offer as over 1,000 museums stay open late for La Nuit Européennes des Musées

French photographer who captured US history gets retrospective in Nice

The exhibition details how Henri Dauman made a name for himself without expensive equipment or even press accreditation

Camembert, brie: Museum dedicated to French cheese to open in Paris

Wine at the ready! The ‘cheese heritage’ will be the first of its kind

news

Key cultural and sporting events in France in 2024

The Olympics and a Tour de France first are among the highlights of a jam-packed cultural calendar

Serge Gainsbourg’s untouched Paris home open to public - two at a time

Staggered tours show the house as it was the day he died with a recorded commentary from his daughter Charlotte

Artist on walk finds 168 million year-old fossil on French beach

The crocodile vertebra – confirmed to be from the Jurassic era – is thought to have been ripped from a cliff in Normandy by recent storms

Meet Frédéric Sommier, director of Normandy's D-Day museum

The Connexion spoke to the former military man about the museum’s newest improvement, but also about his role in maintaining the memory of WW2

From Renaissance to Hockney - 12 Spring exhibitions to see in France

A snapshot of this year’s cultural scene also takes in exhibitions of the Ancient Greeks and Egyptians as well as putting the Normans in their place

Absinthe, corkscrews, santons: 8 unusual museums to visit in France

Have you visited any of these or know others to add?

French cycling: France's historical passion for the bicycle

We explore the French obsession for two-wheeled transport, a love story that goes back to the nineteenth century and continues today, spanning tourism, sport and leisure

Free exhibition explores period before and after the French Revolution

From a largely unseen portrait of Marie-Antoinette to Louis XVI’s diary entries, the showcase has plenty of treats

‘Paris proves people will happily pay for great art’

Columnist Nabila Ramdani believes other countries could learn a thing or two from the success of the French capital’s museums

Plain sailing? Not for the Paris art museum inspired by a ship

In our series on the architecture of France we look at the Fondation Louis Vuitton

Coffin of ancient Egypt’s ‘greatest king’ goes on display in Paris

An exhibition featuring the sarcophagus of Ramses II opens in the French capital on Friday (April 7)

French art: Making an impression in the Hérault

We report on a superb exhibition in Lodève

Skeleton of orca that died in the Seine to enter Paris museum

The animal’s bones will be cleaned and inventoried and become part of Le Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, which has one of the world’s largest collections

Back to the classroom: visiting France’s school museums

Take a nostalgic trip around the country and pay a visit to the country’s finest museums dedicated to the history of education

European Night of Museums: Chance to visit 3,000 French sites for free

Tomorrow night, the public will be able to enjoy special exhibitions and performances

From Dior to berets: Seven places in France for fashion-lovers

The country has plenty to offer fashionistas: from Dior’s childhood home in Normandy to a museum dedicated to the emblematic beret in the south of France

Magical tour: Discover France’s most spectacular illusion museums

The French have a long history of loving magic and even sent one of their most iconic performers to Algeria in the 19th century as a propaganda weapon

Legacy of La Poste: Tracing France’s postal service through the ages

There are several museums dedicated to keeping the history of one of the country’s favourite institutions alive

France votes for art stolen by Nazis to be returned to rightful owners

The collection includes pieces by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt and French artist Marc Chagall

Serge Gainsbourg’s Paris home to open to the public in spring

Over 30 years after the singer’s death, Maison Gainsbourg will host a museum, bookstore and piano-bar

Monet museum is named best in France based on visitor reviews

The Parisian museum beat world-famous attractions such as the Louvre and Musée d’Orsay to the number one spot

Rare gems found near Mont-Blanc shared with French town of Chamonix

The cache of emeralds and sapphires, valued at €300,000, has been split equally between the French mountain town and the anonymous climber who found them

Musée des Maisons Comtoises: See how people used to live in France

An open-air museum of traditional houses dating from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries shows how locals adapted their architecture to the conditions they were living in

France returns 26 looted treasures to Benin in historic handover

President Emmanuel Macron met his Beninese counterpart in Paris to give back the artefacts, 130 years after they were first stolen from the former French colony

Explore the museum in France that celebrates bell arts and making

Musée Européen d’Art Campanaire in Gers is one of its kind; a museum about the sound, purpose and communication of bells on top of just how and why they are made

‘I was very excited about the idea of creating a museum from scratch’

In September 2017, Martine and Léon Cligman announced that they were donating 600 works from their private art collection to the State

New statue in place for underwater sculpture gallery in Marseille

The museum is in an area where power boats are banned, and the sculptures are being examined by scientists for the underwater plants and animals they attract

Picasso painting on display near fruit and veg in French supermarket

The store in Ile-de-France is showing the artwork near food items as a precursor to a new Pompidou Centre gallery opening nearby in 2025

France reopens: Ideas for what to see and do in summer 2021

Culture is back on the table after a long pause due to Covid-19 restrictions

First museum reopens in France with music and breakfast - at 6:00

A museum in the southwest welcomed visitors with early morning coffee and croissants, as the next stage of deconfinement began

Paris museum removes Roman numerals in the names of kings

Louis XIV has been turned into Louis 14, for example, on some information panels at Musée Carnavalet

Macron: Terraces and museums to reopen from mid-May across France

No firm date was given and the President also suggested that openings could be staggered across the country dependent on the local health situation

Mayor of French city to fight court's museum closure order

Court rules mayor of Perpignan does not have the authority to overturn a national decree

French culture minister against Covid passports for museums

No date has yet been set for when museums or other culture spaces can open

Mayor to reopen museums in French city despite Covid rules

Museums in Perpignan may reopen next week, even as a government minister says cultural spaces must stay closed until Covid transmissions go down

France uses ‘test concerts’ to study public venue Covid risk

Two concerts are set to be held in Marseille under strict Covid-safe, scientific conditions as calls grow for other public spaces such as museums to reopen ‘for mental health’

French museums offering art, culture and history from home

Museums in France have upped their digital offerings this year, with many creating special content for the European Night of Museums last weekend

A bonbon-themed tour of France: the sweetest places to visit

From Aix-en-Provence to Montélimar and Alsace to Seine-et-Marne, Connexion tours France’s delicious bonbon hotspots in search of the sweetest places to visit...

Paris Louvre reopens: Why now is a good time to visit

The Louvre art gallery in Paris is reopening its doors to the public today (Monday July 6) - with a series of new health measures in place - and is expected to be up to 80% less busy than normal.

French arts & culture news: July 2020

A round up of the arts and culture stories creating a buzz in France.

Monthly money saver: how to visit museums for free

For this month's money saver tip, we explain how to visit museums across France for free.

French church bells to mark D-Day

With museums and other D-Day commemorative sites likely to be closed on June 6, one museum director is arranging for bells in churches across France to ring out instead.

Movies, operas and museums for all – at home

How you can still enjoy trips to the cinema, nights at the opera and museum visits during the Covid-19 crisis in France - and still observe strict lockdown rules

Inventors remembered in the museums of France

The Connexion dons its thinking cap and tours the country in search of a Eureka! moment in museums and houses dedicated to the memory of great inventions and the minds that made them

Large and small scale marvels on show at French museum

A rare Vénus statue is to be showcased at the Musée de Picardie, just reopened after a €26million refit

Paris museum welcomes ‘Instagram artist in residence’

The Musée d’Orsay in Paris is to welcome a French “artist in residence” on its Instagram social media account, who will each week highlight one of the museum’s great artists as if they were still alive today.

New Paris show tells history of France...in Playmobil

More than 3,000 figures from children’s toy brand Playmobil are now on public display at the army museum at Les Invalides in Paris, arranged in scenes from French history.

British couple sets up fashion museum in France

A museum dedicated to women’s fashion in the 20th century has been set up by an English couple who moved from the UK to the Dordogne two years ago.

Napoléon’s family keep his life on show

Napoléon's great-great- nephew is determined to give a human dimension to the notorious emperor. Jane Hanks speaks to him at his unique museum

Italian court blocks Louvre loan of Leonardo sketch

The Vitruvian Man drawing was due to be lent to the Paris museum for a major exhibition to mark the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci's death in France

Petit Prince writer’s château bought by French region

The childhood château of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of much-loved French book Le Petit Prince , has been bought by the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, for a €30 million project.

Paris Orsay museum opens new impressionist wing

The Musée d’Orsay in Paris has opened a new €900,000 wing dedicated to the works of impressionist and post-impressionist painters, including Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, and Paul Sérusier.

Paris shelter where liberation was planned opens

75 years after events it commemorates, disused shelter under streets of the capital where Resistance fighters organised uprising opens to the public

Louvre to make pre-booking mandatory this year

Pre-booking was intended to be introduced in 2020

Drawing’s Mona Lisa style puts da Vinci in frame

A drawing of a naked character, which bears striking similarities to Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa , could be by the artist himself and not one of his students new research shows.

New Aix museum will house 2,000 works by Picasso

The world’s largest Picasso exhibition is to open in a new museum in Aix-en-Provence.

Paris Louvre tickets for da Vinci show now on sale

Tickets are now on sale for the much-anticipated Leonardo da Vinci exhibition at the Paris Louvre Museum, four months before the show opens.

Waxing lyrical about a very particular modelling job

Musée Grévin’s Véronique Berecz tells The Connexion about working with the great and the good in wax...

Louvre pyramid architect Ieoh Ming Pei dies aged 102

The architect Ieoh Ming Pei, creator of the famous glass pyramid at the entrance of the Louvre Museum in Paris, has died at the age of 102.

‘Most costly’ artwork due at Paris Louvre is missing

The “world’s most expensive painting”, which is due to be on show at the Paris Louvre museum this October, has mysteriously “disappeared” since its sale at auction in 2017.

Airbnb offers ‘night with Mona Lisa’ at Paris Louvre

Property sharing company Airbnb has worked with the Louvre museum in Paris to offer “a night with the Mona Lisa” competition, as part of the 30 year celebrations of the museum’s famous pyramid.

Van Gogh artwork fraudsters investigated in France

Four fraudsters that attempted to sell a false Vincent Van Gogh artwork in France are now being investigated, and could face up to 10 years in jail.

B&B with WW1 garden trench

Some people joke about living on the front line. When Avril Williams says that, she means it literally.

French cultural life - March 2019

A round-up of news, and those creating ‘le buzz’ in French cultural life

French culture is everywhere

Louvre-Lens director Marie Lavandier tells Jane Hanks why the innovative museum is quite unlike any other in France... or beyond

10.2m visitors set record for Le Louvre

The Louvre museum in Paris broke its visitor numbers record in 2018, with 10.2 million over the year - a rise of 25% compared to 2017.

A ‘little bit of artwork’ on every envelope

La Poste has a tradition of inviting artists to create stamps and one of the most popular ever produced commemorated the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings in 2014.

Public invited to dine half price at French museums

High-end restaurants in museums and galleries across France are to offer half-price dining this October, in the biggest “Tous au Restaurant” event ever, including several Michelin-starred menus.

France’s 2018 heritage days attract over 12m people

Over 12 million people visited almost 16,000 monuments across France this weekend as part of this year’s Journées Européennes du Patrimoine (European Heritage Days).

French cultural life - September 2018