The City of Lights

Many people think of France, and Paris especially, as a place of cafes, gourmet food and great artists. Did you know that people have been painting in France since pre-historic times? The Caves of Lascaux have paintings and engravings of animals and humans that some people think are 17,000 years old. Four teenagers discovered the paintings in 1940 which included cows, horses, and stags, painted in bright colors that covered the walls and sometimes the ceiling of the caves. The caves had to close because the breathing of visitors was causing the paintings to deteriorate. To allow people to continue enjoying these rare paintings, an exact replica of the caves was built in 1983 called Lascaux II.

Paris is home to some of the most famous buildings in the world. One of these is the Eiffel Tower. Designed by Gustave Eiffel, it was built for an international exposition in 1889. Many people thought it was too big and too ugly, but Eiffel thought it was beautiful. He even had an apartment built at the very top where he could entertain important guests. When the exposition was over the plan was to tear down the tower. But some people had the idea of using it to put a radio antenna on the top, and the tower was saved. Another great building is the Louvre Museum. It was originally a fortress back in 1200 and then was a palace for the king. Now it holds nearly 25,000 different objects like the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, the French crowned jewels and mummified cats!

France doesn't only house some of the great works of art from around the world, it makes it too. In the late 1800's a new style of art called Impressionism was started there. Some of the painters who worked in this new style were inspired by dancers: Degas painted many pictures at the ballet and Toulouse-Lautrec became famous for his posters advertising a dance hall called the Moulin Rouge. In the 1920's many Americans went to Paris to try to find success and inspiration. They included writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein who became friends with Picasso. French composers have included Debussy and Bizet, both of whom began studies at the Paris Conservatory before they were 12. Pierre Boulez is know as an avant-garde composer and was the Music Director of the New York Philharmonic in the 1970's.