The hidden monuments of Montpellier

For adults

Montpellier is a city of the Occitanie region, in the South-West of France, not far from Marseille. 280,000 inhabitants live in this dynamic medieval city. 

• “En visite avec…” 

You can visit the French city of Montpellier through 7 videos about different historical places. Each video is a new 1 to 3-minute visit in French with a guide from the city’s tourism office, available on Youtube. Discover monuments such as the Mikvé (a traditional Jewish bath), St. Roch district, private mansions, etc. The virtual visit of the medical school is even available in English and Spanish. The videos are quite easy to understand for French learners, because the French is spoken slowly. This is a perfect way to learn about monuments that the “montpelliérains” or the tourists may not even visit themselves! 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRFfs9FpI1M&list=PLF0ZgdkNS6ppzDlexxiuxpsExvuU0aYKV

Paris subway art

For teens and adults

You may have already been to Paris, the capital city of France and city of the Île de France region, hosting 2,200,000 inhabitants. If not, you may have seen many photographs of its emblematic monuments. But do you know the secrets of the Paris subway? The following two resources are about an aspect of Paris that is a little off the beaten path: the graffiti art in the subway. 

• “5 MINUTES in: Paris” video

This video is part of the German series “Graffiti in Motion” and was published in 2019 by the French-German media Arte. It is a virtual tour in Paris with no dialogue, and only music. It focuses on the railway and subway stations that, in a way, have become open graffiti galleries since 2018. 
https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/085941-002-A/5-minutes-in-paris/

• “Nasty, Paris sous les bombes”, video 

If you want to learn more about the life of a graffiti artist, watch this documentary. This is a very interesting 11-minute video about Nasty, a graffiti legend in Paris. The video was published on March 28th 2020 on Youtube, as part of the series “Démasqués” about street art. Meet him on the streets of Paris, at his studio, and in Roubaix (North of France) during preparation for one of his exhibitions. Learn about his origins, his art and his working condition. The second part of the video shows the making of Nasty’s graffiti prints.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_jPs7wes_c&list=PLOcOkVVCi3Fd9GluqmJ_jjJvlzaabMeCa&index=4&t=0s

The Cheverny castle

For children and adults

This castle is one of the châteaux of the Loire Valley, in France. It is located in the town of Cheverny. Its current version is from the 17th century. 

• “Le Château de Cheverny devient le château de Moulinsart chez Tintin”, video

This is a resource aimed at teenagers, and is available on the French educational platform Lumni. Watch this 4-minute video in French and learn about this castle of the Loire valley which inspired the Belgian author Hergé’s famous comic book Tintin. Indeed, Moulinsart castle architecture was inspired by Cheverny! 
https://www.lumni.fr/video/le-chateau-de-cheverny-devient-le-chateau-de-moulinsart-chez-tintin

Interested in Tintin stories? To listen to 4 stories through an audiobook in French, check out our blog article. 

Interested in the French castles ? Don’t miss our virtual trip in France in the Loire valley!