History

A muse for the artists of Montmartre and a pioneer for female painters – and single mothers – around the world, she rose from humble beginnings to achieve fame and fortune. Hazel Smith traces...

Hope and light arise from the darkness Three unique sites offer insights into the First World War in Nord-Pas-de-Calais and honour all those who gave their lives for peace. Trace the events, the soldiers' stories...

Once upon a time, French monks would enter the cold, dark cellars of their monasteries, only to discover that their precious wine was destroyed. Unbeknownst to these winemakers, the cold temperatures created a second...

Long before Julius Caesar began his conquests, women held equal positions with men in the Celtic (or Gaulish) culture that spread over much of Europe. They excelled as leaders, warriors, scholars, artists, and inventors,...

Jennifer Ladonne steps into the mysterious world of the monks and nuns still making wine in France Though scientists debate whether it was the Etruscans or the Greeks who introduced wine and winemaking to France,...

Pizzas and hellish bus rides with a side of racing history... it's all in a day's work for columnist Theadora Brack I can do anything! I tell myself, as I pound the trottoir juggling two...

Here is a café where the world changed forever No, the name doesn’t pay homage to a breakfast pastry– it refers, in fact, to a shop sign that sported a crescent moon, and it hasn’t...

Veteran fromager Patrick Ambrosio takes us on a whistle-stop tour of France's oldest, and whiffiest, monastic cheeses The impact of monastic orders on the history of French cheesemaking cannot be overstated. Indeed, we owe France's...

Gillian Thornton tootles over to France's chestnut Mecca for a cheeky tasting spree ahead of the annual Les Castagnades festival Chestnuts have always been synonymous with Christmas, whether toasted on a roaring log fire or...

Chloe Govan delves into the life of King Louis XV’s mistress and reveals her controversial role as a revolutionary in the worlds of art, politics and religion In the final portrait of Madame de Pompadour,...