Images

A map of Europe displaying important cities that shaped its history, from antiquity to the present. Cities on the map represent key centers throughout history. Each city represents a distinct period from Athens, Rome, and Constantinople (now...

Installation of the Conseil d'Etat on 25 December 1799, during the period of the French Consulate. The three consuls of France preside in their red garments; from left to right: Jean-Jacques de Cambacérès, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Charles-François...

Portrait of Louis Antoine de Bourbon-Condé, Duke of Enghien (1772-1804) whose scandalous arrest and execution sent shockwaves throughout Europe, turning many European aristocrats against the Bonapartist regime in France. Portrait by Jean-Michael...

A depiction of the three French consuls during the period of the French Consulate; from left to right, Jean-Jacques Régis de Cambacérès, Napoléon Bonaparte, and Charles-François Lebrun. By Henri-Nicolas Van Gorp, 1803.

The Rape of Proserpina, white marble sculpture by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, 1621-22. Galleria Borghese, Rome. Photo by Int3gr4te, 2007.

The Maiden Tower, Baku, Azerbaijan, built in the 12th century.

A 19th-century pastel on paper drawing, Carmen, by Emile Wauters (1846-1933). Carmen is the central character in the novella of that name by Prosper Mérimée (1803-70) and the opera by the French composer Georges Bizet (1838-1875).

A portrait of the French composer Georges Bizet (1838-1875).

A c. 1860 portrait by Felix Henri Giacomotti of the French composer Georges Bizet (1838-1875). (Musée Carnavalet, Paris)

The tomb of the French composer Georges Bizet (1838-1875), Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris.