 | |
| Getting Started | |
World Guide  | |
| Airport Guides | |
| TRAVELLER TOOLS | ||||||||||||||||||
|
 |
The World | |
Europe | |
Paris | |
Culture |
|
Paris,
Culture Major venues, in addition to those detailed below, include the Palais des Congrès, 2 place de la Porte‐Maillot, 17th (tel: (01) 4068 2222; ), for opera, ballet, pop stars, and the enormous Palais des Sports, Porte de Versailles, 15th (tel: (01) 4828 4010; ). Tickets for concerts of all kinds can be purchased at: FNAC Forum des Halles, 1 rue Pierre Lescot, 1st (tel: (01) 4041 4000; ), or FNAC Musique, 2 rue Charenton, 12th (tel: (01) 4342 0404). There is also the Carrousel du Louvre, 99 rue de Rivoli, 1st (tel: (01) 4316 4747; ), directly beneath the Louvre, or Virgin Megastore, 52 avenue des Champs‐Elysées, 8th (tel: (01) 4953 5000; ). However long the queue, ticket touts at the Opéra and concert venues are to be avoided. Music: The Paris Opéra () performs ballet and opera at the Opéra Garnier, place de l’Opéra, 9th (tel: (01) 4001 1789), and Opéra Bastille, place de la Bastille, 12th (tel: (01) 4001 1789). Tickets cost &Euro;29‐109). Large opera productions are also performed at the Théâtre Musical de Paris (see below). The varied programme at the Cité de la Musique () at La Villette is strongest in contemporary music and home to the internationally renowned Ensemble Intercontemporain, but also features ancient music, jazz, chansons and world music. It has two important venues: the Conservatoire National de Musique, 209 avenue Jean Jaurès, 19th (tel: (01) 4040 4545), and the Salle des Concerts, 221 avenue Jean Jaurès, 19th (tel: (01) 4484 4484). Big names in French contemporary and experimental classical music to listen out for are Pierre Boulez, Pascal Dusapin and Luc Ferrarie. A series of orchestras, including the Orchestre Colonne, Orcheste Lamoureux and Orchestre de Paris are based at Salle Pleyel, 252 rue du Faubourg‐St‐Honoré, 8th (tel: (01) 4561 5300). Other prestigious venues for classical music include the Salle Gaveau, 45 rue de la Boétie, 8th (tel: (01) 4953 0507); Théâtre des Champs‐Elysées, 15 avenue Montaigne, 8th (tel: (01) 4952 5050; ), and the Théâtre Musical de Paris, 1 place du Châtelet, 1st (tel: (01) 4028 2840; ). Theatre: The Comédie Française, 1 place de Colette, 1st (tel: (01) 4458 1515; ), is the national theatre, renowned for its production of the classics. Théâtre National de la Colline, 15 rue Malte‐Brun, 20th (tel: (01) 4462 5252), plays contemporary French drama. New talent is sought out at fringe theatres such as Guichet‐Montparnasse, 15 rue du Maine, 14th (tel: (01) 4327 8861). Peter Brook is based at the Bouffes du Nord, 37 bis boulevard de la Chapelle, 10th (tel: (01) 4607 3450). The Odéon, 1 place de l'Odéon, 6th (tel: (01) 4441 3636), hosts foreign‐language productions but is currently closed for renovations. Dance: The main ballet venue is at the Opéra Garnier (see Music above). Major productions are also held at the prestigious Théâtre de la Ville, 2 place du Châtelet, 4th (tel: (01) 4274 2277), where works by high‐profile choreographers, such as Karine Saporta, Maguy Marin and Pina Bausch, are frequently shown. The Théâtre Musical de Paris (see Music above), hosts ballet companies from abroad. Film: The first public film screening ever (‘Le train entrant en gare’) was shown in Paris by the Lumière brothers in 1895. Today, Paris remains an important cinema capital – in any given week, over 300 films are shown. The city’s largest (18‐screen) cinema is UGC Ciné Cité Bercy, 2 cours St‐Emilion, 12th (tel: (08) 9270 0000), with a 16‐screen UGC Ciné Cité Les Halles at place de la Rotonde, Nouveau Forum des Halles, 1st (tel: (08) 9270 0000). Although the multi‐screen UGCs and Gaumonts are on the increase (many based on the Champs‐Elysées and in Montparnasse), Paris is still teeming with small art cinemas, clustered in the 5th and 6th arrondissements. Among these are Le Champo, 51 rue des Ecoles, 5th (tel: (08) 9268 6921; ), near the Sorbonne and Racine Odéon, 6 rue de l’Ecole‐de‐Médicine, 6th (tel: (08) 9268 9325; ), known for its all‐night showings. Some cinemas are worth seeing just for their decor – one such is kitsch Le Grand Rex, 1 boulevard Poisssonnière, 2nd (tel: (01) 4508 9389). The recently released movies Amelie (Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amelie Poulain; 2001), directed by Jean‐Pierre Jeunet (of Delicatessen fame) and Moulin Rouge! (2001; directed by Baz Luhrmann) were both set in Montmartre and took box offices worldwide by storm. Cultural events: Paris offers plenty of choice and a wide variety of lively festivals. Among these are the free, city‐wide Fête de la Musique (21 June), the Festival du Film de Paris (early April) and the biennial Festival d’Automne (September‐December) contemporary dance event. Free concerts are held within the city’s churches, during the Festival d’Art Sacré in the weeks preceding Christmas. Listings are to be found in Pariscope () and L’Officiel des Spectacles; classical concerts are listed in the monthly Le Monde de la Musique. Literary Notes The written word and words uttered during long café discussions on the Left Bank have done much to create the mythical Paris that visitors still hunt out today. Victor Hugo’s historical novel The Hunchback of Notre‐Dame (1831) is set in 15th‐century Paris and Les Misérables (1862) in the poverty‐stricken Parisian underworld. Ernest Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast (1964) depicts the bohemian Paris of the inter‐war years, while Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer (1934) and Tropic of Capricorn (1939) portray a sexier city. A more reflective image is portrayed in Anais Nin’s interlocking works. For Nin, Paris allows the development of her sexuality and, perceived as equally sinful, creativity. George Orwell describes the poverty of the 1920s in Down and Out in Paris and London (1933). Traces of literary heroes and heroines and their fictional creations are sought throughout the city: in the lingering smoke of the Café de Flore and Les Deux Magots, boulevard St‐Germain, 6th, where the existential discussions between Jean‐Paul Sartre, Camus and Simone de Beauvoir used to rage. Joyce used to drink at chic Le Fouquet’s, 99 avenue des Champs‐Elysées, 8th; while such luminaries as Rousseau, Voltaire and Wilde frequented Le Procope, 13 rue de l’Ancienne‐Comédie, 6th. Hemingway dined at the La Cloiserie des Lilas, 171 boulevard du Montparnasse, 6th, still popular with the publishing world, and Samuel Beckett’s favourite haunt was Le Select, 99 boulevard du Montparnasse, 6th. The place of literary pilgrimage par excellence is the Père Lachaise Cemetery, presumed resting place of medieval lovers Abélard and Héloïse. They lie in good company, along with the great 17th‐century playwright Molière and fable‐teller La Fontaine, Oscar Wilde, Sarah Bernhardt, Champollion, Delacroix, Ingres, Géricault, Bizet, Balzac, Proust, Colette and Edith Piaf. Jim Morrison was famously buried here in 1971. |