Letter from Paris: November 12, 2025 News Digest

Notre Dame used to be the setting for the weddings of famous royalty. Its most recent festive celebration — the cathedral’s first wedding in 30 years — occurred on October 25th when Martin Lorentz, a carpenter who worked on Notre Dame’s restoration, wed his now-wife Jade. Note that Notre-Dame does not usually host private ceremonies since it’s not a parish church; rare weddings require special permission from the archbishop. Lorentz, who hewed the enormous wood beams using ancestral know-how and medieval techniques, was one of 2000 artisans to work on Notre Dame’s restoration. He dreamed of getting married there— a wish granted after he received the rare authorization- and the wedding took place in front of 500 guests, including many fellow carpenters.

This month department stores in Paris unveil their famous Christmas windows, a theatrical spectacle that draws crowds of all ages. This annual event — complete with celebrity ribbon-cuttings — kicks off the magic of the festive season. Head over to Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche, Printemps Haussmann, Samaritaine, and Galeries Lafayette Haussmann to check them out.

In other department store news, the arrival of the fast-fashion label Shein at BHV Le Marais has caused an uproar, with horrified Parisians declaring it a scandal, and some workers going on strike. (Though the store launch last week also drew bargain hunters, along with protestors brandishing “Shame on Shein” signs.) Brands like Agnès B. have even decided to leave the department store, permanently closing their corner there; the designer called Shein “worse than anything.” Among other criticisms, the e-commerce giant has been decried for offering childlike sex dolls on its website.

The city has opened a lottery for burial spots in the famous (overcrowded) cemeteries of Père-Lachaise, Montparnasse and Montmartre. Generally there are very few spots available with the city of Paris; they’ve been full since the early 20th century. The lottery requires the restoration of funerary monuments. As reported by the BBC, “Ten gravestones in need of repair at each cemetery are being offered for €4,000 each, on the condition that purchasers restore them and acquire a burial plot beside them. The scheme ‘presents a compromise’ between respecting the dead and giving residents a chance to be buried within the city, the Paris council said. Maintenance of gravestones and monuments in Parisian cemeteries are the responsibility of families – not the city. Therefore some graves can become abandoned and decrepit over time.”

Here’s the latest in the Louvre heist investigation (in case you haven’t been following!) The Paris prosecutor says that the four suspects recently held in custody are local petty criminals with no association with organized crime. There are all kinds of stories circulating online: was the password to Louvre’s video surveillance system really “Louvre”? Was one of the suspects really a social media star (alias Doudou Cross Bitume) and former museum guard? But curious minds want to know: where on earth are the jewels?!

A Picasso portrait of Dora Maar– once the artist’s muse and mistress- recently sold at the Drouot auction house in Paris for 32 million euros. Long hidden from view, the painting sold for a price that was well above estimates, though not as much as Picasso’s most expensive work. As reported by the AP, “Painted in July 1943, “Bust of a Woman with a Flowered Hat (Dora Maar)” depicts Maar in a brightly colored floral hat. Maar, an artist and photographer herself, had been Picasso’s partner and muse for about seven years, and the relationship was coming to a painful close. The work was purchased in 1944 and had not been on the market since, remaining in the family collection.”

Tennis fans were in for a treat at the 2025 Paris Masters at the Paris La Défense Arena. Italian star Jannik Sinner claimed the crown on Sunday, November 2 following a straight sets win over Canadian player Félix Auger-Aliassime. As reported by Radio France Internationale (RFI), “the 1000 points from the victory allows [Sinner] to leapfrog Carlos Alcaraz and reclaim top spot in the ATP world rankings… ‘It’s been an incredible week and an incredible run in the past couple of months,’ said Sinner after he received the winner’s trophy from the French tennis legend Yannick Noah.”