Jules Hardouin-Mansart was a French Baroque architect and builder whose major work included the Place des Victoires (1684–1690); Place Vendôme (1690); the domed chapel of Les Invalides (1690), and the Grand Trianon of the Palace of Versailles. His monumental work was designed to glorify the reign of Louis XIV of France.
The Marais is a historic district in Paris, France. It spreads across parts of the 3rd and 4th arrondissements in Paris on the Rive Droite, or Right Bank, of the Seine. Having once been an aristocratic district, it is home to many buildings of historic and architectural importance. It lost its status as a fashionable district in the late 18th century, with only minor nobles calling the area home. After the French Revolution, the district fell into disrepair and was abandoned by the nobility. After a long period of decay, the district has undergone transformations in recent years and is now once again among the more fashionable areas of the city, known for its art galleries, upscale restaurants and museums.
The Jardin des plantes, also known as the Jardin des plantes de Paris when distinguished from other jardins des plantes in other cities, is the main botanical garden in France. The term Jardin des plantes is the official name in the present day, but it is in fact an elliptical form of Jardin royal des plantes médicinales, which is related to the original purpose of the garden back in the 17th century.
Victor Pierre Horta was a Belgian architect and designer, and one of the founders of the Art Nouveau movement. He was a fervent admirer of the French architectural theorist Eugène Viollet-le-Duc and his Hôtel Tassel in Brussels (1892–93), often considered the first Art Nouveau house, is based on the work of Viollet-le-Duc. The curving stylized vegetal forms that Horta used in turn influenced many others, including the French architect Hector Guimard, who used it in the first Art Nouveau apartment building he designed in Paris and in the entrances he designed for the Paris Metro. He is also considered a precursor of modern architecture for his open floor plans and his innovative use of iron, steel and glass.
Houlgate is a small tourist resort in northwestern France along the English Channel with a beach and a casino. It is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region.
Chantilly is a commune in the Oise department in the Valley of the Nonette in the Hauts-de-France region of Northern France. Surrounded by Chantilly Forest, the town of 10,863 inhabitants (2017) falls within the metropolitan area of Paris. It lies 38.4 km north-northeast of the centre of Paris and together with six neighbouring communes forms an urban area of 37,254 inhabitants (2018).
Chater Road is a three-lane road in Central, Hong Kong named after Sir Paul Chater. It begins at its intersection with Pedder Street and Des Voeux Road Central in the west, and ends at Murray Road in the east. It divides Statue Square into a southern and a northern sections.
Carrère and Hastings, the firm of John Merven Carrère and Thomas Hastings, was one of the outstanding American Beaux-Arts architecture firms. Located in New York City, the firm practiced from 1885 until 1929, although Carrère died in an automobile accident in 1911.
The Teatro Massimo Vittorio Emanuele is an opera house and opera company located on the Piazza Verdi in Palermo, Sicily. It was dedicated to King Victor Emanuel II. It is the biggest in Italy, and one of the largest of Europe, renowned for its perfect acoustics.
This "quartier" of Paris got its name from the rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. It runs north-northwest from the Boulevard des Italiens to the Église de la Sainte-Trinité.
A series of meetings between Sicilian Mafia and American Mafia members were allegedly held at the Grand Hotel et des Palmes in Palermo, Sicily, between October 12–16, 1957. Also called the 1957 Palermo Mafia summit, the summit discussed the international illegal heroin trade in the French Connection. The FBI believed it was this meeting that established the Bonanno crime family in the heroin trade.
The Louvre Saint-Honoré building is a historic structure in Paris, occupying an entire urban block between the rue de Rivoli, the place du Palais-Royal, the rue Saint-Honoré, and the rue de Marengo, with a total floor surface of 47,000 square meters. It was originally erected in the early 1850s by the Pereire brothers who in 1855 opened an iconic hotel, the Grand Hôtel du Louvre, and an innovative street-level department store, branded from 1863 the Grands Magasins du Louvre. While the Grand Hôtel closed in 1887, the Grands Magasins expanded and kept operating in the building until 1974. From 1978 to 2016 they were succeeded by a specialized mall of antiques shops, the Louvre des Antiquaires, while the upper floors were repurposed as rented office space. Since 2020, the building's lower levels have been undergoing conversion to become the new flagship home of the Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain.
Ardenne Castle, or the Royal Castle of Ardenne was situated in Wallonia in the municipality of Houyet in Belgium not far from Ciergnon Castle and 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from Dinant, was a royal castle that served as a luxury hotel from 1891 to 1949. It burned down in 1969.
The Hôtel de Lauzun is a 17th-century hôtel particulier, or private mansion, located on the Quai d'Anjou of the île Saint-Louis in the 4th arrondissement of Paris, France. It is among the few Parisian hôtels that retain their rich carved, painted, mirrored and gilded interiors from the time of Louis XIV.
The Pavillon de Flore, part of the Palais du Louvre in Paris, France, stands at the southwest end of the Louvre, near the Pont Royal. It was originally constructed in 1607–1610, during the reign of Henry IV, as the corner pavilion between the Tuileries Palace to the north and the Louvre's Grande Galerie to the east. The pavilion was entirely redesigned and rebuilt by Hector Lefuel in 1864–1868 in a highly decorated Napoleon III style. Arguably the most famous sculpture on the exterior of the Louvre, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux's Triumph of Flora, was added below the central pediment of the south facade at this time. The Tuileries Palace was burned by the Paris Commune in 1871, and a north facade, similar to the south facade, was added to the pavilion by Lefuel in 1874–1879. Currently, the Pavillon de Flore is part of the Musée du Louvre.
Taghit is a town and commune in Taghit District, Béchar Province, in western Algeria. The town is an oasis watered by the underground Oued Zousfana, which runs along beside the dunes of the Grand Erg Occidental. According to the 2008 census its population is 6,317, up from 6,047 in 1998, with an annual growth rate of 0.4%. The commune covers an area of 8,080 square kilometres (3,120 sq mi).
The Lycée Fénelon is an academic institution located in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, in the Latin Quarter. It receives its name from François Fénelon, a French theologian and writer (1651-1715) who promoted women's education in his writings, notably in his "Traité de l'éducation des filles".
Palazzo Chiaramonte-Steri is a Gothic-style palace located on via Piazza Marina, facing the Giardino Garibaldi in the ancient quarter of Kalsa of Palermo, region of Sicily, Italy.
The Tour Jean-sans-Peur or Tour de Jean sans Peur, located in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris, is the last vestige of the Hôtel de Bourgogne, the residence first of the Counts of Artois and then the Dukes of Burgundy. The tower contained bed chambers and the grand stairway of the original residence, which stood next to it. It was completed between 1409–1411 by Jean sans Peur. The original hôtel occupied about a hectare of land, the boundaries of which are now marked by the rues Étienne Marcel, Montorgueil, Saint-Sauveur, and Saint-Denis. The tower itself is located at 20 rue Étienne Marcel, in the courtyard of an elementary school. It is one of the best surviving examples of medieval residential architecture in Paris. The tower is open to the public and presents changing expositions on life in the Middle Ages.
The Hôtel des Trois Couronnes is a hotel in Vevey, Switzerland. It was built in 1842 on the ruins of the "Belles Truches" castle, built in 1376 (1). This building once destroyed left the place to a hotel built by Philippe Franel and inaugurated on May 3, 1842 (3) under the name "Hôtel Monnet" (3), the name of its owner back then. Gabriel Monnet named it "Trois Couronnes" because he owned an inn of the same name, also situated on Vevey's Rue du Simplon (4).
