Articles on the history and culture of the French capital augment information on tourist attractions, hotels, restaurants, and shopping facilities throughout the city

Paris: The Powers that Shaped the Medieval City considers the various forces – royal, monastic and secular – that shaped the art, architecture and topography of Paris between c. 1100 and c. 1500, a period in which Paris became one of the foremost metropolises in the West. The individual contributions, written by an international group of scholars, cover the subject from many different angles. They encompass wide-ranging case studies that address architecture, manuscript illumination and stained glass, as well as questions of liturgy, religion and social life. Topics include the early medieval churches that preceded the current cathedral church of Notre-Dame and cultural production in the Paris area in the late 12th and early 13th centuries, as well as Paris’s chapels and bridges. There is new evidence for the source of the c. 1240 design for a celebrated window in the Sainte-Chapelle, an evaluation of the liturgical arrangements in the new shrine-choir of Saint-Denis, built 1140–44, and a valuable assessment of the properties held by the Cistercian Order in Paris in the Middle Ages. Also, the book investigates the relationships between manuscript illuminators in the 14th century and representations of Paris in manuscripts and other media up to the late 15th century. Paris: The Powers that Shaped the Medieval City updates and enlarges our knowledge of this key city in the Middle Ages.

This book explores the emergence of 'Third Worldism' as a new intellectual movement during the era of decolonisation and the Cold War.

Cultural diversity, because it is perceived to have significant security, developmental, and social implications, is fast becoming one of the major political issues of the day. At the international level, it overlaps with the now extensive debates on multiculturalism within states. This work shows how cultural diversity challenges the understanding of international relations as relations between states and, by looking at the issue through the magnifying glass of an international organization, offers innovative insights into the interplay between various levels of international society. The book examines in particular the role of UNESCO, the only United Nations agency responsible for culture and the main forum for international diplomacy on the issue of cultural diversity.