The bells that have been ringing every 15 minutes since 1856 in the towers of Notre Dame are being melted down and reforged. The Diocese of Paris says they’re ”mediocre in quality and of discordant tonality.”
Not sure I want bells that are in tune. It’s like having perfect teeth; no character…
Read the rest at the Sydney Morning Herald.
We could wander these virtual stacks for days! So far, the Bibliothèque nationale de France has digitized more than one million works, including books, maps, manuscripts, images, periodicals, scores and sound recordings, and made them available for free to the public at the Gallica digital library. This is France’s answer to Google Books, and the result of the big fight from a couple of years ago.
“Santo Sospir is a tattooed villa,” says Jean Cocteau as he narrates his home-made movie giving a tour of the villa of a friend whose doors and walls he “decorated.”
Read more and watch the fascinating video at U B U W E B.
Experience a commute in Paris and New York simultaneously.
via DesignTAXI.com
A documentary about objectophilia (being in love with objects). The part where the lady marries the Eiffel Tower starts at the 6:50 mark. Dig that ET cleavage tattoo! Watch the video on Documentary Heaven.
Seen @Brainpicker.
My last trip to Paris was about rediscovering the city’s artistic and architectural beauty. With my brand new digital camera and lenses, I wanted to focus on the details. In this case, as the album title suggests, the numerous faces that look at you everywhere you go.
See all the faces of Paris Visages. Seen @Brainpicker.
It’s hard not to be impressed by the Millau Viaduct that’s down the road from where I live in France.
Read more at Design Observer.
Emmanuelle Moureaux does amazing things with color, making it look as if someone carrying architect’s blueprints rounded a corner and crashed into someone carrying Pantone swatches, creating a Reese’s-Peanut-Butter-Cup-like design style. The Sugamo Shinkin bank design [above] features what Moureaux calls a “Rainbow mille-feuille,” in addition to shafts of natural light encapsulated in glass…
Read the rest at Core77.
Logo Tourist presents an art project by Risto-Jussi Isopahkala. Logotourist mixes iconic landmarks and commercial logos. It features logos from the hundred most valuable brands.
Seen @brainpicker
A strange sense of architectural déjà vu has gripped the French capital. Parisians, who in their day loathed the Eiffel Tower, the Pompidou Centre and the Louvre Pyramid, are campaigning once again to defeat a revolutionary new building.
via The Independent
The Barry Troglodyte Village is a small complex of homes build undeground in the south of France. Though underground homes are unusual, that’s not the weirdest part about this place. These subterranean houses have been occupied continuously by people for thousands of years – from the neolithic era of roving tribes, to the early twentieth century.
via io9
Through collaboration with artists representing a variety of disciplines, F.A.C.E. (French-American Creative Exchange) endeavours to inspire and empower local urban communities by way of a creative, micro-political exchange. Interactive arts projects draw from their imagination and input in order to highlight social issues such as civic preservation and revitalization, education and progressive urban planning, all of which have a daily impact on local citizens.
Our thanks to the Paris Property Group for supporting this organization and letting us know about it!
A late 19th Century town-house in central France that was sealed up for more than 100 years has finally been opened to the public in accordance with its owners last wishes.
Watch a BBC video tour of the house.
Designed by the architect Ange-Jacques Gabriel, it is one of the best examples of 18th-century royal architecture and its intact collection of furniture and decor is unrivalled, even by the palace of Versailles. But the state-owned building could be transformed into luxury boutiques, plush suites for billionaires or a hotel with swimming pool.
via The Guardian