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The Louvre Museum is the largest of the world's art museums by its exhibition surface. These represent the Western art of the Middle Ages in 1848, those of the ancient civilizations that preceded and influenced it (Oriental, Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan and Roman), and the arts of early Christians and Islam. At the origin of the Louvre existed a castle, built by King Philip Augustus in 1190, and occupying the southwest quarter of the current Cour Carrée. In 1594, Henri IV decided to unite the palace of the Louvre with the palace of the Tuileries built by Catherine de Medicis. The Cour Carrée was built by the architects Lemercier and then Le Vau, under the reign of Louis XIII and Louis XIV. The Department of Paintings currently has about 7,500 paintings (of which 3,400 are exposed), covering a period that goes from the Middle Ages to 1848 (date of the beginning of the Second Republic). By including the deposits, the collection is, with 12,660 works, the largest collection of ancient paintings in the world. With rare exceptions, the works after 1848 were transferred to the Musée d'Orsay when it was created in 1986.
PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR SAM MARLOWE travels to Paris in search of the Modern world, a valuable object that may or may not have gone missing. On the Right Bank, the philosophical investigator Honoré de Balzac leads Sam through the French cultural experience of the last five centuries while instructing him on the art of becoming a raconteur, a teller of tales. Sam must then make sense of postmodern Paris, a confusing labyrinth devoid of the usual signposts that normally direct Western Civilization. On the Left Bank, he meets another philosophical investigator, Marcel Proust, who guides him along the corridors of existentialist thought while instructing him on the art of becoming a flâneur, a spectator of life. During his investigation Sam encounters numerous Francophile historians and philosophers, as well as many writers and characters of French literature. The story is much like the menu at a fine French restaurant, with the first-time guest longing to sample all the exquisite dishes before making a final choice. Fortunately, the diner can taste that very special dish on another visit to Café Philosophique. Bon Appétit!
The Napoleonic wars did not end with Waterloo. That famous battle was just the beginning of a long, complex transition to peace. After a massive invasion of France by more than a million soldiers from across Europe, the Allied powers insisted on a long-term occupation of the country to guarantee that the defeated nation rebuild itself and pay substantial reparations to its conquerors. Our Friends the Enemies provides the first comprehensive history of the post-Napoleonic occupation of France and its innovative approach to peacemaking. From 1815 to 1818, a multinational force of 150,000 men under the command of the Duke of Wellington occupied northeastern France. From military, political, and...