Blenheim Palace is a country house in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England. It is the seat of the Dukes of Marlborough. Originally called Blenheim Castle, it has been known as Blenheim Palace since the 19th century. It was built between 1705 and 1722, and designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. It is among England’s largest houses. The palace is notable as the birthplace and ancestral home of Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965).
Blenheim Palace was designed by John Vanbrugh (1664-1726). The English nation presented the site to John Churchill, first Duke of Marlborough, in recognition of his victory in 1704 over French and Bavarian troops (the Battle of Blenheim), a victory which decided the future of the Empire and, in doing so, made him a figure of international importance.
Blenheim Palace sits within a large walled landscape park, the structure by Vanbrugh overlaid by the designs of Lancelot “Capability” Brown (1716-1783), an English gardener and landscape architect, who remains the most famous figure in the history of the English landscape garden style.The Park is considered “a naturalistic Versailles”.
The original landscape set out by Vanbrugh, who regulated the course of the River Glyme, was later modified by Lancelot “Capability” Brown who created two lakes, seen as one of the greatest examples of naturalistic landscape design.
Following the palace’s completion, it became the home of the Churchill (later Spencer-Churchill) family for the next 300 years, and various members of the family have changed the interiors, park and gardens. At the end of the 19th century, the palace was saved from ruin by funds gained from the 9th Duke of Marlborough’s marriage to American railroad heiress Consuelo Vanderbilt.
Blenheim Palace sits on an estate that covers about 2,000 acres (approximately 810 hectares) and has 187 rooms. When I visited earlier this year I could not help but think of Blenheim as a “mini-Versailles”. In contrast, the Palace of Versailles has 2,300 rooms and is located on a 2,000-acre estate, about the same size as Blenheim. Versailles is older. Construction started in 1661, compared with the early 18th century for Blenheim.
Comparisons aside, a visit to Blenheim is a great way to spend a day.
Henry Clay Folger (1857-1930) and his wife, Emily Jordan Folger (1858-1936), established the Folger Shakespeare Library as a gift to the American people, after decades of assembling the world’s largest collection of Shakespeare materials. It opened in 1932, two years after the death of Henry Folger. The Folger’s collection features the 82 First Folios of Shakespeare, the 1623 publication that is one of the most sought-after and important books in the history of publishing.
Henry Folger was a first cousin six times removed of Benjamin Franklin and a nephew of J. A. Folger, the founder of Folger Coffee.
After opening, the Folger steadily expanded its holdings to become a world-class research center on the early modern period, while remaining the premier center for Shakespeare studies and resources outside of England. The Folger has the world’s largest collection of the printed works of William Shakespeare, and is a primary repository for rare materials from the early modern period (1500–1750) in Britain and Europe.
The Folger’s public outreach programs, beginning in the library’s early decades with exhibitions, lectures, and publications, have also grown over time.
Emily Folger wrote of Henry Folger’s belief that Shakespeare “is one of our best sources, one of the wells from which we Americans draw our national thought, our faith and our hope.” This belief in the deep connection between Shakespeare and America is the reason the Folger Shakespeare Library is located in the nation’s capital.
The Folgers worked closely with the French-born architect Paul Philippe Cret (1876-1945) to create a marble building which reads like a book, and whose placement testified to the hope that Washington, DC, would become the nation’s civic and cultural capital.
The Folger collection began in 1889 with Henry Folger’s first purchase of a rare book, a copy of the 1685 Fourth Folio of Shakespeare’s plays. By the time the collection was transported to the new library, it amounted to 200,000 items.
In 1938, the library acquired the collection of the late Sir Robert Leicester Harmsworth, comprising more than 8,000 rare books printed in England between 1475 and 1640. Together with later acquisitions, the Harmsworth purchase expanded the Folger’s focus beyond Shakespeare studies to include virtually all aspects of the early modern period in Europe.
From 1948 to 1968, Folger Director Louis B. Wright added substantial materials from the Renaissance in Europe, acquiring 22,000 continental books and 19,000 more English books.
The Folger continues to make new acquisitions of rare material.
In 1930, the library was placed in trust of Amherst College, Henry Folger’s alma mater. The library building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The beautiful Reading Room officially opened in January 1933 and today contains reference works for easy accessibility to readers. Henry Folger wanted the Library’s reading room to feel at once like a private home and the Great Hall of an English college. It features stained-glass windows and a large stone fireplace which has never been used. The large stained-glass window overlooking what is now the Gail Kern Paster Reading Room was designed and created by Nicola D’Ascenzo (1871-1954), an Italian-born American stained glass designer, painter and instructor. The Reading Room also features 16th- and 17th-century French and Flemish tapestries, carved oak paneling and a high trussed roof.
On a hall screen at the east end hang portraits of the Folgers in their academic robes, painted by the British artist Frank O. Salisbury (1874-1962). Above the Salisbury portraits is a bust of Shakespeare based on his memorial in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon. The ashes of both Folgers are immured behind a memorial plaque.
At the west end of the Reading Room is one of the Folger’s treasures, a large stained-glass window depicting the Seven Ages of Man from Jaques’s speech in As You Like It. Although the window is exposed to exterior sunlight, it is in an interior space and is not visible from outside the building.
The intimate Elizabethan Theatre is the setting for Folger Theatre productions. With its three-tiered wooden balconies, carved oak columns, and half-timbered facade, the Theatre evokes the courtyard of an English Renaissance inn. The theater seats around 260. It has no pit. The first theatrical performance in the Elizabethan Theatre was a 1949 production of Julius Caesar.
A major four-year expansion and renovation led by Kieran Timberlake was completed in 2024.
The Folger Shakespeare Library (201 E. Capitol St. SE) is open 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, with extended hours to 9 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Free timed entry passes are recommended.
This construction project at the Lincoln Memorial will create 15,000 square feet of exhibit space that tells a more complete story of the Lincoln Memorial and provides a look at the structure’s foundations in a cavernous area known as the undercroft. New museum exhibits and multimedia presentations will highlight the construction history of the memorial and discuss how the Lincoln Memorial has become the nation’s foremost backdrop for civil rights demonstrations. The project also includes new restrooms, a larger bookstore, and replacement of the existing elevator as well as the addition of a second elevator.
The undercroft of the Lincoln Memorial is a tall grid of concrete columns surrounded by large expanses of open space. Floor-to-ceiling glass walls will provide a view of the undercroft, and an immersive theater presentation will project images of historic events onto the foundations. Visitors will also learn about the significance of the site as an international icon dedicated to the achievements of Abraham Lincoln and individuals such as Marian Anderson (1897-1993) and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), who have shaped the history of the memorial.
The project will cost $69 million ($26 million from the National Park Service and $43 million in private donations to the National Park Foundation). It is scheduled for completion in July, 2026.
The Lincoln Memorial, including the the 120-ton statue of Abraham Lincoln shown above, remains open during the project. The basement area exhibits, restrooms and elevator will close during construction, however temporary restrooms, bookstore and a handicapped accessible lift will be available for the duration of the work.
And here’s a glimpse from The Washington Post of how the undercroft will be transformed. It looks great.
Solothurn (pop. 16,777) is a town, a municipality, and the capital of the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located in the northwest of Switzerland on the banks of the Aare and on the foot of the Weissenstein Jura mountains.
Cathedral of St. Ursus. Solothurn, Switzerland
The town is the only municipality of the district of the same name.
The town got its name from Salodurum, a Roman-era settlement. From 1530 to 1792 it was the seat of the French ambassador to Switzerland. The pedestrian-only old town was built between 1530 and 1792 and shows an impressive array of Baroque architecture, combining Italian Grandezza, French style, and Swiss ideas. The town has eighteen structures listed as heritage sites.
The official language of Solothurn is (the Swiss variety of Standard) German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect.
Solothurn is said to be the most beautiful baroque city in Switzerland. The imposing buildings were constructed in various epochs: ranging from the first half of the 12th century, when the clock tower was built, to 1773, when St. Ursus Cathedral was constructed in baroque and neo-classical style.
Cathedral of St. Ursus. Solothurn, Switzerland
St. Ursus Cathedral is Solothurn’s main attraction. It is the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Basel in Solothurn.
St. Ursus Cathedral is considered the most significant Swiss building from the early neoclassical period, and was constructed using light-colored Solothurn marble. The cathedral is also full of Solothurn’s magic number 11: three sets of 11 imposing steps lead up to the cathedral; inside, the cathedral has 11 altars; and the tower is 66 m tall (6 x 11) and has 11 bells.
The historic heart of Solothurn, Switzerland, with it cobblestone square framed by centuries-old buildings under a brilliant autumn sky.
The third complete reconstruction of the cathedral took place from 1762 to 1773 according to a design by Gaetano Matteo Pisoni from Ascona – lasting exactly 11 years. Pisoni’s nephew, Paolo Antonio Pisoni, managed the later years of the construction. Eleven bells from the Kaiser foundry in Solothurn (1764–1768) hang behind large acoustic openings. The high altar by Carlo Luca Pozzi echoes the form of a sarcophagus. The cathedral treasure is stored on the ground floor of the tower.
Under brooding skies in Switzerland, a lone cyclist rides past the stately facades of a quiet town square.
The Bibliothèque Mazarine, or Mazarin Library, is located within the Palais de l’institut de France, or the Palace of the Institute of France (previously the Collège des Quatre-Nations of the University of Paris), at 23 quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement, on the Left Bank of the Seine facing the Pont des Arts and the Louvre. Originally created by Cardinal Mazarin (1602–1661) as his personal library in the 17th century, it today has one of the richest collections of rare books and manuscripts in France, and is the oldest public library in the country.
The library today contains about 600,000 volumes. The oldest part of the collection, brought together by Mazarin, contains about 200,000 volumes on all subjects. The more modern collections specialize in French history, particularly religious and literary history of the Middle Ages (12th–15th centuries) and the 16th and 17th centuries. Other specialities are the history of the book and the local and regional history of France.
One of two theaters (the other being the Théâtre de la Ville) built on the site of a châtelet, a small castle or fortress, it was designed by Gabriel Davioud (1824-1881) at the request of Baron Haussmann between 1860 and 1862. Originally named the Théâtre Impérial du Châtelet, it has undergone remodeling and name changes over the years. Currently it seats 2,500 people. The theater was registered as a historic monument on November 14, 1979.
Since 1979, the theatre has been operated by the City of Paris, and, after undergoing a major restoration, re-opened in 1980 under the name Théâtre Musical de Paris. It was acoustically re-modeled again in 1989 and reverted to the Théâtre du Châtelet name.
From 2017 to 2019, the theatre was closed for a $34.7 million renovation. While the main purpose of the renovation was to renew electrical circuits, fire safety and security, the Grand Salle was returned to its appearance of 1862 and the Grand Foyer to its Napoleon III style. Outside of the theatre, allegorical statues symbolizing dance, music, comedy and drama which were removed at the end of the 19th century were restored.
The Hotel Harrington, once known as “Washington’s Tourist Hotel,” closed its doors on December 12, 2023, after more than 109 years of continuous operation.
Opened on March 1, 1914—when Woodrow Wilson was President and the world stood on the edge of war—the Harrington quickly became a fixture in downtown Washington. Located just steps from the White House and the National Mall, it earned the distinction of being the city’s longest-operating hotel and, for generations, a true Washington institution.
I walked past it countless times but never stepped inside. Now, that chance is gone.
Below is a circa-1932 postcard of E Street NW, looking west at 11th Street. On the right, the Thrift Shop at 1011 E Street is doing brisk Depression-era business; on the left stands the Hotel Harrington. A distinguished bank building once occupied the northwest corner, but it too has vanished.
Grainy, circa-1932 postcard of E Street NW facing west at 11th Street. The Thrift Shop, at 1011 E St NW, is on the right, doing brisk Depression-era business. Harrington Hotel on the left. Note the distinguished bank building, long gone, on the northwest corner of 11th and E. (Source: Streets of Washington on Flickr)
The following photo of the Hotel Harrington is from the archives of the Library of Congress:
Historic American Buildings Survey, C., Hoachlander, A., photographer. (1933) Hotel Harrington, Eleventh & E Streets, Northwest, Washington, District of Columbia, DC. Washington D.C. Washington, 1933. Price, V. B., trans Documentation Compiled After. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/dc0989/.
Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport (CDG) opened on March 13, 1974. It has three terminals. Terminal 1 (shown above) is the oldest terminal. It was inaugurated on March 8, 1974 by French Prime Minister Pierre Messmer (1916-2007), after eight years of construction.
Designed by the young architect Paul Andreu (1938-2018), this first terminal featured an innovative design of brutalist architecture. It has a central circular building linked to seven satellites. Designed to facilitate the distribution of passenger flows, this singular structure earned the terminal its nickname, which is still used today, the Camembert.
The first Air France flight from Paris-Charles de Gaulle took off on April 30, 1974. The Caravelle F-BHRA, the first aircraft of its type delivered to Air France, took off for Belgrade and Sofia, with a crew led by flight captain Henri Cibert.
Paris-Charles de Gaulle is the busiest airport within the European Union. In 2022, it handled 57,474,033 passengers and 34,657 aircraft movements, thus making it the world’s ninth busiest airport and Europe’s third busiest airport (after Istanbul and Heathrow) in terms of passenger numbers.
The Library of Congress in Washington, DC is the largest library in the world, with millions of books, films and video, audio recordings, photographs, newspapers, maps and manuscripts in its collections. The Library is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office.
Congress moved to Washington, D.C. in 1800 after holding sessions for eleven years in temporary national capitals in New York City and Philadelphia. Also in 1800, as part of an act of Congress providing for the removal of the new national government from Philadelphia to Washington, President John Adams approved an act of Congress providing $5,000 for books for the use of Congress—the beginning of the Library of Congress.
However, in 1814, the British burned Washington, destroying the Capitol and the small congressional library in its north wing. Former President Thomas Jefferson offered to sell his comprehensive personal library of 6,487 books to rebuild the Library of Congress. Congress accepted his offer in 1815. Jefferson’s concept of universality is the rationale for the comprehensive collecting policies of today’s Library of Congress.
The Library of Congress is among Washington’s top attractions. Every Library of Congress visitor must reserve timed-entry pass. Passes are available here. It’s worth planning ahead as slots fill up.
The Musée Picasso is an art gallery located in the Hôtel Salé in rue de Thorigny, in the Marais district of Paris, dedicated to the work of the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso (1881–1973). The hôtel Salé is probably, as Bruno Foucart wrote in 1985, “the grandest, most extraordinary, if not the most extravagant, of the grand Parisian houses of the 17th century”.
The museum collection includes more than 5,000 works of art (paintings, sculptures, drawings, ceramics, prints, engravings and notebooks) and tens of thousands of archived pieces from Picasso’s personal repository, including the artist’s photographic archive, personal papers, correspondence, and author manuscripts. A large portion of items were donated by Picasso’s family after his death, in accord with the wishes of the artist, who lived in France from 1905 to 1973.
Photograph of Jaqueline Roque by David Douglas Duncan at the Musée Picasso
Jacqueline Roque (1927–1986) (shown above) was best known as the muse and second wife of Pablo Picasso. Their marriage lasted 11 years until his death, during which time he created over 400 portraits of her, more than any of Picasso’s other loves. Here, she poses with her striking portrait created in California. The photograph was made by David Douglas Duncan (1916-2018), an American photojournalist, known for his combat photographs and for his extensive domestic photography of Pablo Picasso and his wife Jacqueline.
