The Palais du Luxembourg was originally built for Marie de Médicis in 1615 by the architect Salomon de Brosse. The design featured two galleries to hold 24 paintings by Rubens. In 1750, France's first public museum for paintings was opened in the East Wing, housing painting from the King's Chambers, including works by Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Veronese, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Poussin, and Raphael.
Construction on the current building ran from 1884-1886, and was later bequeathed a collection by Caillebotte. Picasso, Pissaro, Bonnard, Degas, Gauguin, and Renoir were all exhibited until 1937, when the new modern art museum opened. Since 1937 the museum has been used for exhibitions devoted to presenting the artistic heritage of France.
This 6,500 year-old two-sided stone tool - made by lithic reduction (gradual whittling with a hammer stone) - was discovered in France. It would have been used by prehistoric man as a primitive instrument for hacking at plants and animal flesh.
It is one of many impressive items in the Museum of Prehistory and Early History at the newly reopened (as of October 2009) Neues Museum in Berlin, which features a range of artefacts dating back to man's earliest history, from the Stone Age through the Neolithic to the Bronze Age.
The Chronicle of the Kingdom of Scotland – a list of Scotland’s first royal family, the 12 kings of the House of Alpin – has been called the “birth certificate of Scotland,” since it contains the first ever mention of Albanium, a Latinised version of the Gaelic name for Scotland. It was writtin, in Hiberno-Latin, in the 11th century AD, not long after the death of Kenneth II in 995 AD.
Since the 17th century, it’s been in the hands of the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, the national library of France. A campaign for the Chronicles of the Kings of Alba’s repatriation to Scotland was launched by Scottish politicians and historians in 2008.
The Maison Carrée (Square House) was built during the rule of Augustus between 16 and 5 BC and is located in the heart of Nîmes. It was dedicated to Lucius Caesar and Gaius Julius Caesar, adopted heirs of Augustus who both died prematurely. It was built on the same model as the Temple of Apollo in Rome and is now the best-preserved Roman temple in western Europe. It owes its preservation to the fact that it was consecrated as a Christian church in the fourth century AD, saving it from the fate of other Roman temples, which have been dismantled for their stone.
The Amphithéâtre des Trois Gaules was built in approximately 19 BC and was able to seat 20,000 spectators in its heyday. It was the scene of the first shows where Christian martyrs were thrown into the arena with wild animals in 177 AD. One of the most famous martyrs to meet her fate in this way was Saint Blandine. The lions and a bull refused to attack her, but Roman soldiers were able to finish the task by killing her. The amphitheatre's refers to Lyon's position as the capital of the three Roman provinces of Gaul, namely Aquitania, Belgica and Lugdunensis (the Latin name for Lyon).
The Théâtres Romains is actually a complex of three different sites, consisting of a Roman theatre, a temple and an odeum. It is located in a park to the south of the Lyon's basilica.
The theatre was built during the rule of Augustus between 17 and 15 BC. It was later extended during the rule of Hadrian. It is thought to be the oldest Roman theatre in France.
The purpose of the odeum was specifically for musical concerts and performances. There is evidence still visible today that the odeum was opulently decorated with marble and porphyry mosaics on the floor where the orchestra would have played. The temple complex was built in 160 AD and it was dedicated to the goddess Cybele, although today there is little left standing of that structure.
The site of Vaison-la-Romaine has been inhabited since the Bronze Age and while its first settlers were the Ligures, it was then taken by the Vocontii in the fourth century BC. It was conquered by Rome between 125-118 BC and became an oppidum. During the Roman era, Vaison prospered and many buildings were constructed, including villas and a theatre where a statue of Tiberius was found. The city was sacked and burned during a Barbarian invasion in 276 and by the fifth century inhabitants began to dismantle the theatre, using its stone seats to build other structures in the town.
It is thought that the Triumphal Arch of Orange was built during the reign of Augustus and its purpose was to celebrate the veterans of the Gallic Wars and the Legio II Augusta, although Tiberius later 'reappropriated' the arch to honour the victories of Germanicus.
It is decorated with low relief scenes of military and naval battles against Germanic and Gallic tribes, as well as showing plundered treasures of war.
Standing at a height of almost 20 metres, it is made of large limestone blocks placed together without mortar to form three arches – a large one with two smaller arches on either side. It is the oldest surviving arch of its type and is thought to be a model copied for the arches of Septimus Severus and Constantine in Rome.
The Roman Theatre of Orange was built in the early first century AD in the Roman colony of Arausio (full name, Colonia Julia Firma Secundanorum Arausio), which was founded by Roman soldiers in 40 BC. It was a major centre of entertainment and social life in the Roman town, putting on plays, comedies, poetry readings as well as other performances.
The theatre was closed in 391 AD by the Christian church due to what it saw as uncivilized peformances.
The Alyscamps is a Roman burial ground just outside the city walls of Arles, in Provence, France. During Roman times it was a famous necropolis. It is named after the mythological Elysian Fields and was the main burial ground for Arles for 1,500 years. The Alyscamps is located outside the old town, in keeping with Roman custom of placing necropolises outside residential areas, and was also at the end of an important road out of Arles: the Aurelian Way, which lead all the way, via the Alps, to Rome. It would have been mainly the rich citizens who would have been buried there and some of the sarcophagi attest to the wealth, and also craftsmanship, at the time. The necropolis was used after Arles became Christianised in the fourth century AD.
