Lens&Limon

School trips / History

Paris: History Lens

From the Sun King to Napoleon: the history you teach, in the places where it happened.

Place de la Concorde and the Tuileries
The Louvre at nightThe Eiffel Tower from the Seine at sunset
Length
5 nights · 6 days
Subjects
History, Art history, Philosophy
Meals
Breakfast, packed lunch, dinner
Guide
French guide for the whole stay, on request

Why teachers choose it

EXPERIENCE

Six days on site: Sainte-Chapelle, the Conciergerie, Versailles, Les Invalides and 20 metres underground in the Catacombs.

LEARNING

Medieval France, absolutism, the Revolution, Napoleon and the Great War, plus Gothic to Impressionist art.

MEMORIES

The Hall of Mirrors, and standing in Marie-Antoinette’s prison cell.

For your curriculum

Subjects

HistoryArt historyPhilosophyLiterature

Skills

ChronologyReading art as a historical sourceObservation on siteDebating ideas

Learning objectives

  1. 1Follow French history from Saint Louis to the Great War, in the places where it happened.
  2. 2Read art and architecture as historical sources: Gothic glass, Versailles, Orsay.
  3. 3Meet the Enlightenment thinkers and the writers the Republic honours in the Panthéon.

Topics covered: History: Ancien Régime, French Revolution, Napoleon, Great War · Philosophy: Enlightenment · Art history: Gothic, Renaissance, Impressionism · Literature: Hugo, Zola

Your curriculum: we adapt the programme to the British, French or IB curriculum your students follow.

Teacher Pack
  • Learning objectives for each day
  • Activity and challenge sheets for students
  • Group leader information: timings, contacts, emergency numbers
  • Ideas to prepare the trip in class and follow it up
Ask for a sample Teacher Pack

Day by day

  1. Day 1

    Medieval Paris & the Île de la Cité

    MorningSainte-Chapelle. A jewel box of 13th-century stained glass built by King Saint Louis: the perfect lesson in Gothic art and medieval France.Art history · Gothic stained glass · History · Saint Louis and medieval France
    AfternoonConciergerie. Walk the halls and cells where Marie-Antoinette and thousands of others awaited the Revolutionary Tribunal.History · the Revolution and the Terror
    AfternoonNotre-Dame (exterior view only). Façade and rose window; no interior visit.Art history · Gothic · Literature · Hugo
    EveningTuileries & Place de la Concorde. Restaurant or cafeteria dinner.
  2. Day 2

    Louvre & the Revolution

    MorningLouvre Museum. From Philippe Auguste’s fortress to the world’s greatest museum: Leonardo, David’s Neoclassicism and Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People.Art history · Renaissance, Neoclassicism, Romanticism · History · from monarchy to museum
    AfternoonSeine cruise. Glide past Notre-Dame, the Louvre and Orsay: the monuments you are studying, seen from the river.Geography · how the Seine shaped Paris
    EveningRestaurant or cafeteria dinner.
  3. Day 3

    Versailles

    MorningPalace of Versailles. The Hall of Mirrors and the Sun King’s apartments: where absolutism was staged, the 1789 women’s march ended and the 1919 peace treaty was signed.History · Absolutism, the Revolution, the Treaty of Versailles and the Great War
    AfternoonGardens of Versailles. André Le Nôtre’s grand gardens, fountains and Grand Canal: compare the French formal garden with the Renaissance garden.Art history · the French formal garden vs the Renaissance garden
    EveningTrocadéro: Eiffel Tower & group photo. Restaurant or cafeteria dinner.
  4. Day 4

    Napoleon & the Impressionists

    MorningLes Invalides. Napoleon’s tomb beneath the golden dome, and the Musée de l’Armée: from Louis XIV’s army to the two World Wars.History · Napoleon, the Napoleonic wars and the World Wars
    AfternoonMusée d’Orsay. Manet, Monet, Degas and Van Gogh under one great railway-station roof: Realism, Impressionism and Post-Impressionism.Art history · Realism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism
    EveningRestaurant or cafeteria dinner.
  5. Day 5

    Catacombs & the Enlightenment

    MorningCatacombs of Paris. Walk 20 metres below the city through the old quarries that became an ossuary for six million Parisians.Science · History · geology of Paris and 18th-century public health
    AfternoonPanthéon. Where the Republic honours its great figures: the Enlightenment thinkers Voltaire and Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Zola and Marie Curie.Philosophy · Enlightenment (the Lumières) · Literature · Hugo, Zola
    EveningRestaurant or cafeteria dinner.
  6. Day 6

    Departure

    MorningDeparture. Breakfast, checkout and departure.

Packed lunch every day. Visits depend on season and availability, and we adapt the order to your group.

Add to your trip

A sample of what we can add or swap in, quoted on request.

French cooking classChocolate museum & workshopStation FOpéra de ParisMusée d’OrsayMusée de l’OrangerieParc des PrincesStade de FranceLa DéfenseA French guide for the whole stay

Included

  • 5 nights in partner accommodation, with breakfast, packed lunch and dinner
  • All visits and entrance fees in the programme
  • Paris transport passes
  • Teacher Pack

Not included

  • Travel to Paris
  • Supervision of students, by your school staff
  • Travel insurance

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