Cannes' Sainte-Marguerite was home to the 'Man in the Iron Mask'

On an island off Cannes, monks make their own wine

Saint-Honorat Island is home to the Lérins Abbey, where an order of monks makes wine, liqueurs, and olive oil—when they’re not praying.

The man behind the dark novel abandoned on the floor of the Bastille

As tensions rose in the days before the French Revolution of 1789, Donatien Alphonse François attempted to fan the flames by shouting at passersby about false horrors happening inside the Bastille where he was imprisoned. This 39-minute podcast...

Voltaire's writing sent him into exile

In 1717, the writer's satirical poem "La Henriade" landed him in prison for a year. By 1726, the French government's distaste for his work caused him to leave the country for England, though he returned a few years later. That would be short-lived: In 1734, his "Lettres Philosophiques" sent him packing again, moving to Champagne, then Berlin, then Switzerland, before finally returning to Paris in 1778.

The Cannes Film Festival was created as a response to fascism

Initially called the International Film Festival, Cannes was created as an alternative to the Venice Film Festival, which French diplomat Philippe Erlanger believed had been politicized by the influence of Hitler and Mussolini.

Explore the French palace royals fled from during the 1789 revolution

This virtual reality tour lets viewers explore the Palace of Versailles, which King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette were forced to flee during the French Revolution. Versailles was later made a public establishment by order of King...

A guide to Cannes, the luxurious city on the French Riviera

Explore everything Cannes has to offer with this travel guide aimed at tourists interested in bucking the typical traps. Includes recommendations for traveling to Sainte-Marguerite, taking in the city's murals, and booking a beach club reservation.

Philosopher and playwright Jean-Paul Sartre staged his first play while he was imprisoned in a POW camp.

Picasso was on trial for the theft of the 'Mona Lisa'

On August 22, 1911, the world was stunned by the theft of the "Mona Lisa" from the Louvre in Paris. As an international investigation searched for the culprit, a young Picasso was suspected to be part of a group of its thieves. While innocent in the disappearance of the Mona Lisa, he found himself on trial with reasonable suspicion: He was in possession of two Iberian statues that were the property of the same museum.

Camus directed a Picasso-penned play

The show, called "Desire Caught by the Tail," was written by Picasso in 1941 while living in Nazi-occupied Paris. It was first staged in 1944, featuring several French intellectuals, including Albert Camus, who directed, as well as Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, who had starring roles.

Venice’s famous statues gave the Cannes Lions festival its name

Despite its current name, Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity began in Venice and was named after the winged lions found in the city’s St. Mark’s Square.

Take a walking tour of Cannes

This is the closest you'll get to exploring Cannes without setting foot in the City of Stars. Wander through the markets in Old Town, an historic church, and the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, the home of Cannes Lions and the Film Festival.

In 2013, a lone bandit stole $136M in jewels from a luxury hotel in just 30 seconds

The robbery took place in broad daylight. Without any armed security guards present, the thief quickly stuffed a duffel bag with 72 precious items. They remain at large. The heist drew particular attention for its location—the Carlton Intercontinental Hotel in Cannes, which was prominently featured as a setting in Hitchcock's 1955 film "To Catch a Thief" about a reformed cat burglar.

In 1911, a solo thief stole the 'Mona Lisa' from the Louvre, propelling the painting to a new level of celebrity.

Mardi Gras revelers on floats are required to wear masks

Masks are worn to encourage revellers to embrace their wild side without letting their identity get in the way. That's something New Orleans takes seriously: If you're riding on a Mardi Gras float, city law requires that you wear a mask.

King cake is a classic Mardi Gras dessert

One of the signature foods of Mardi Gras is the king cake, a green, gold, and purple-sprinkled desert. Baked inside is a hidden figurine, though some bakers use other objects. Whoever gets the piece with the object is blessed with good luck, though they're also expected to bring a cake to the next gathering.

Breaking down the details on how the art heist at the Louvre unfolded

On October 19, 2025, several people dressed as construction workers climbed a construction lift and broke into the Louvre, stealing roughly $100M of crown jewels. This podcast breaks down the specifics of the heist.

Americans touring the Louvre were inspired to create their own grand museums

The one-time royal residence was first transformed into a public museum in 1793 amid the French Revolution. Americans visiting in the early 1800s were both turned off by the aristocratic grandeur and compelled by the open access to the public. James Fenimore Cooper, the author of "The Last of the Mohicans," apparently came and measured the length of galleries.

The FBI kept tabs on Camus and Sartre

Jean-Paul Sartre worked as an American correspondent for Combat, the newspaper edited by Albert Camus. While he was in the States, J. Edgar Hoover's FBI kept tabs on him, concerned that Combat was publishing unfavorable portrayals of the US.

A brief history of Cannes controversies

Cannes is one of the most prestigious festivals in the world, but that hasn’t shielded it from controversies, including inflammatory statements, political protests, and booing audiences.

Houdini recalls how he became 'Handcuff King'

Illusionist Harry Houdini rose to fame through his many escapes, like from the handcuffs slapped onto his wrists by Los Angeles police in 1899. In this 1907 Los Angeles Herald article, Houdini recalls some of the many times he's thwarted attempts to...

Jean-Paul Sartre worked on 'Being and Nothingness' while a prisoner of war

The Nazis invaded France in May 1940. Sartre, as a member of the French Army, was taken prisoner that June. While he was in captivity, he studied Martin Heidegger and worked on "Being and Nothingness," one of his most famous philosophical works.

Where the world's most wanted pirate hid in the 1600s

Metal detectorists who discovered 500-year-old silver coins have helped support the theory that notorious 16th-century pirate Henry Every hid out in several American colonies.

Camus contracted tuberculosis as a teenager

There was still little understanding of treatment for the disease at the time; for most people, a tuberculosis diagnosis was a death sentence. The 17-year-old Camus was quarantined in his uncle's house, where he grew into an avid reader. Scholars note that the experience would inform his later work, including his 1947 novel "The Plague."

Sartre was an elaborate prankster as a student

After Charles Lindbergh completed his first solo transatlantic voyage in 1927, the French philosopher—then a student at Paris' École normale supérieure—called various newspapers to tell them the American pilot would be granted an honorary degree. Over 500 people showed up to find a Lindbergh lookalike Sartre had hired. "The public fell for it, and an old man even kissed his hand," Sartre later wrote.

There's no definitive proof that Boulanger, the supposed inventor of the restaurant, ever lived

Legend has it that Boulanger's Paris soup shop was the first modern restaurant, but historian Rebecca Spang found no definitive proof that he ever lived. She did, however, find multiple documents referencing a different 18th-century Parisian, Mathurin Roze de Chantoiseau, as the "creator" of restaurants. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

A mescaline-induced hallucination stayed with Jean-Paul Sartre throughout his life

In 1935, Sartre was injected with mescaline, a psychedelic drug that was then used to treat alcoholism and depression, by his friend at the Hôpital Sainte-Anne in Paris. It was not a good trip: Sartre saw nightmarish crabs for days and suffered a mental breakdown. For the rest of his life, crustaceans like the ones he saw during the hallucination appeared in his works.

Who died during the French Revolution of 1789?

This article examines the human cost of the 1789 French Revolution, during which up to 17,000 people were guillotined and many more were killed by other means. A majority of the guillotine deaths were meted out during the Reign of Terror, a...

'The Republic of Letters' was an analog internet for the Enlightenment.

The virtual intellectual society exchanged tens of thousands of letters and spanned several continents. Some of its most avid correspondents were Voltaire, Benjamin Franklin, and Saint Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits.

The 18th-century French painter of goofy selfies

Long before smartphones existed, French artist Joseph Ducreux was posing for effect in his self-portraits. A minor aristocrat during the French Revolution, Ducreux depicted himself with unusual expressions, forgoing the typical staid pose for effusive ones. This article collects those paintings and tells the painter's story and his unlikely resurgence through online memes.

The subtle red carpet war

The dress code for the Cannes Film Festival’s red carpet is conservative by today’s standards, leading to conflict with stylists embracing more contemporary looks. While some rules are Cannes’, others are out of their hands because they’re French law.

Often dubbed the 'king of bank robbers,' George Leonidas Leslie stole an estimated $7M (equivalent to $200M today) and charged other criminals a $20K fee to evaluate their heist plans

Leslie studied architecture and used blueprints of safes and banks to execute meticulously planned bank heists across the Northeast between 1869 and 1878. Although Leslie was an infamous bank robber by night, he posed as a member of high society by day, providing critical intel on the institutions he'd rob and helping conceal his crimes. Months before his largest planned heist, where he planned to turn on his gang, Leslie's body mysteriously washed up along the Hudson River. His killer remains a mystery.

How Van Gogh painted 'Irises' in an asylum

Van Gogh’s painting titled “Irises” (1889) remains one of his most-recognized works. Created soon after the artist checked himself into an asylum, the oil painting depicts flowers from the overgrown garden in the institution. Discover more about the work and other masterpieces Van Gogh constructed during a personally tumultuous time.

Grosse Île, the quarantine island of the Port of Quebec

As tens of thousands of Irish emigrated to North America to escape the Great Famine in the mid-19th century, many port cities set up quarantine areas amid an epidemic of cholera. In Quebec City on the St. Lawrence River, one island became a mass graveyard where over 3,000 Irish immigrants died over a decade as they waited in quarantine. Listen to the history here.

How the Guy Fawkes mask became iconic

The Guy Fawkes mask, popularized by the film "V for Vendetta," is now one of the most iconic visual symbols in recent history. Learn about the mask's origin and adoption by protest movements in this brief piece. The movie presents an anonymous,...

Only 9 directors have won Cannes’ top prize more than once

Cannes’ Palmes d’Or award is one of the highest distinctions in film. The select few who have earned the award more than once include the most iconic names in filmmaking, including Francis Ford Coppola, Billie August, and Emir Kusturica.

Sartre spent his time in the French Army working on a novel

The writer's physical limitations (including partial blindness and balance issues) prohibited him from serving on the front lines. Instead, he worked as a military meteorologist. The job was not very demanding, so he spent most of his time writing. He told Simone de Beauvoir it was "extremely peaceful work; indeed I cannot think of any branch of the services that has a quieter, more poetic job."

Mozart's 'The Marriage of Figaro' satirizes aristocratic privilege

“The Marriage of Figaro” tells a tale about young lovers, deception, and dynamics between the aristocracy and their servants. Critiquing French society just years before the French Revolution began, this rebellious work of art experienced wild success while also being the subject of censorship and bans in the late 1700s.

Kamel Daoud's 'The Meursault Investigation' earned him a fatwa

Although the novel was read by many as a criticism of Camus' "The Stranger" and French colonialism in Algeria, it was also read by some as blasphemous. In December 2014, a member of the Islamic Awakening Front, a militant Islamist group, said the book "placed the Koran in doubt, along with the sanctity of Islam" and called for Daoud's execution.

Champagne played a role in resisting the Nazis

When France surrendered to the Nazis in 1940, the invaders occupied the north. This was home to wine regions like Champagne and Bordeaux, which the Nazis were eager to loot. Winemakers took a stand by sheltering dissidents in their cellars, passing intelligence across borders, and even giving their lives to the cause.

30,000 men known as the 'League of Broke Husbands' once protested Dior's luxury fashion designs

In the 1940s, these men living in post-war France were angry about the waste and cost of the fabric needed to make its luxury clothing. Today, Dior is owned by luxury conglomerate LVMH.

Every winner of the Cannes Palmes d’Or

It’s one of the most prestigious awards in all cinema. Winning not only guarantees significant buzz but also means you’re a part of film history, with past winners including “Pulp Fiction,” “Taxi Driver,” and “La Dolce Vita.”

The first glasshouse was constructed in 1931

The Maison de Verre in Paris was built to house a doctor's office on the ground level and an apartment upstairs. Unlike the typical model that would follow, this glass house exposed very little of the home's interior.

A French Army surgeon discovered that malaria is a parasitic disease in 1880—but scientists were initially skeptical.

Sartre and de Beauvoir's literary journal was named after a Charlie Chaplin movie

The couple founded the magazine Les Temps Modernes in 1945 and it quickly became essential reading for French intellectuals. Its name came from "Modern Times," Charlie Chaplin's 1936 movie that satirized the industrial revolution's dehumanizing effects.

Performance artist Thierry Mandon turns solitary domestic scenes into spectacless

Suspended in the air and attached to severed buildings, artist Mandon appears engrossed in his book while lying in bed or sitting at a table. Mandon satirizes our everyday habits while attracting and amusing passersby.

Camus was born in Algeria, but was considered French

French Algeria was segregated between Arabs and "pieds-noirs," which was then a derogatory name for the million-plus Europeans living in the North African country. Camus was one of the latter, and throughout his life, he argued for political rights for Arabs while also believing the country should remain part of France. Pieds-noirs largely fled the country after it gained independence in 1962.

Camus was once a communist, but eventually disavowed the ideology

The writer belonged to the French Communist Party and the Algerian Communist Party in the mid-1930s, but he was eventually expelled for refusing to downplay objections to French colonialism. By the time he published "The Rebel," he was vocally anti-communist, believing it was a utopian ideology that often relied on violence.

Dom Pérignon was a 17th-century French monk often inaccurately credited with inventing Champagne

You’ve probably heard of Dom Pérignon the brand, but what do you know about Dom Pérignon the man? He is often credited with inventing Champagne—which is why the iconic (and expensive) Champagne house is named after him—but the truth is he simply pioneered many methods for manufacturing it.

Hotels in Cannes, the glamorous city on the French Riviera, hire hawks to ward off seagulls during the city's famous film festival.

Some refer to LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault as 'The Wolf in the Cashmere Coat'

Likely a play on the phrase, "a wolf in sheep's clothing," the nickname was earned via Arnault's "take no prisoners" approach to business. As he ages, many have wondered who will succeed him as CEO, and if it will be one of his children already employed under the LVMH conglomerate.