User:SiefkinDR



I am from California, and currently live in France.

I am particularly interested in architecture, because it combines art, technology, and history. I've contributed to the articles on Contemporary architecture, Modern architecture, Art Nouveau, Art Deco. and on several architects, including Le Corbusier, Renzo Piano, Santiago Calatrava, Zaha Hadid, Philip Johnson, Henri Sauvage, and Auguste Perret, as well as on a number of historic buildings in Paris.

I served as a diplomat in Paris, and I have written about its history, people, and its churches,fountains, parks and gardens. I began the articles on Architecture of Paris, Paris during the First World War, Paris under Louis-Philippe, Paris during the Restoration, Paris in the 18th century, Paris under Napoleon, Paris in the Middle Ages, and Paris during the Second Empire and contributed to the articles on Paris, the  History of Paris, Napoleon III and the Paris Commune. I also contributed to the articles on the History of Parks and Gardens of Paris and Fountains in Paris, and the individual articles on many of the notable churches, parks and fountains.

I have also contributed to the articles on the major colors, including Blue, Red, Green Black and White. I created the lead montages, and wrote about like the history, art, culture, science, and symbolism belonging to every color. I like to write about gardens, because they're a form of art which expresses beautifully the culture and aesthetics of their place and time, and because they're very pleasant to visit and write about. I've learned a great deal about Japanese history, literature, art and philosophy by studying and writing about Japanese gardens. I visited Kyoto many years ago and came back with a very strong impression from the serenity and careful composition of the gardens.

I also like to write about Provence, because it reminds me of Southern California, where I grew up, and because I love the medieval monasteries and cathedrals (none of those in Southern California), the Roman ruins, the clarity of the light there, the sound of the Mistral wind, and the changing blue color of the Mediterranean in the early morning and after sunset.

I like to write about the fountains, because they're beautiful, serene, musical, and they're full of history.

I write sometimes about Russia, because I served in St. Petersburg (Europe's most beautiful city) and Moscow, and there are many connections with the United States. How many people realize that many of the treasures of the National Gallery in Washinigton used to be in the Hermitage, until Stalin sold them?

I sometimes write about San Francisco, because I used to live there. I wrote three books about San Francisco history, and it's the most beautiful city in the United States.

I'm interested in the computer game about Carmen Sandiego, because I had the privilege to play small part in its creation. I wrote the initial script for the game in 1985 and invented Carmen's name, just before I entered the Foreign Service. The brilliant designers at Broderbund brought her to life and gave her a memorable hat and a sense of humor.

Current and recent projects

 * Limoges Cathedral
 * Palace of Fontainebleau
 * Oratoire du Louvre
 * Saint-Jean de Montmartre
 * Notre-Dame-de-la-Croix de Ménilmontant
 * Notre-Dame-du-Travail, Paris
 * List of most-visited museums in France
 * Notre-Dame de la Gare
 * Saint-Christophe-de-Javel, Paris
 * List of most-visited museums in the United States
 * Saint-Denys de la Chapelle
 * Notre-Dame-des-Champs, Paris
 * Sainte-Odile, Paris
 * Saint-Louis-d'Antin
 * Saint-Laurent, Paris
 * Saint-Jacques-du-Haut-Pas
 * Hamilton E. James, Metropolitan Museum co-chairman
 * Église Saint-Serge, Paris
 * Saint-Eugène-Sainte-Cécile
 * Saint-Thomas-d'Aquin, Paris
 * Sainte-Trinité, Paris
 * Saint-Denys-du-Saint-Sacrement
 * Église Saint-Philippe-du-Roule
 * Church of Les Billettes, Paris
 * Val-de-Grâce (church)
 * Saint Elizabeth of Hungary Church, Paris
 * Sainte-Clotilde, Paris
 * Saint-Leu-Saint-Gilles de Paris
 * Notre-Dame-de-la-Compassion, Paris
 * André Devambez, French painter and illustrator
 * Notre-Dame-des-Blancs-Manteaux
 * Notre-Dame-des-Victoires, Paris
 * Notre-Dame-de-Bonne-Nouvelle
 * Saint-Joseph-des-Carmes
 * Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, Paris
 * Saint-Augustin, Paris
 * Saint-Medard, Paris
 * Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre
 * List of historic churches in Paris
 * Church of Saint-Jean-Bosco, Paris
 * Saint-Louis-en-l'Île
 * Green pigments
 * Red pigments
 * Blue pigments
 * Sainte-Marguerite, Paris (11th arrondissement)
 * Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, Paris, Paris church in the 10th arrondissement
 * Saint-Roch, Paris, Paris church in th 1st arrondissement
 * Saint-Germain-des-Prés (abbey), Paris church in the 6th arrondissement, founded in 6th century
 * Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis, 16th century church in the Marais
 * Saint-Séverin, Paris, 15th-century Flamboyant Gothic church
 * Sacré-Cœur, Paris, Basilica on Montmartre, Paris
 * Saint-Joseph-des-Carmes, Chapel in the 6th arrondissement dedicated in 1613 by Marie de Medici
 * Saint-Pierre de Montmartre, 12rh century church on butte of Montmartre
 * Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks, painting by Ilya Repin
 * Albert Edelfelt 19th century Finnish painter
 * Ilya Repin, 19th century Russian painter
 * Place de la Concorde
 * Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet, (Classical-style church in the 5th arrondissement)
 * Hôtel de la Marine, Museum on the Place de la Concorde
 * Al Thani Collection
 * Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs, Paris
 * Saint-Merri
 * Saint-Étienne-du-Mont
 * Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois
 * Saint-Eustache, Paris
 * Semaine sanglante, (Final days of the Paris Commune)
 * Tuileries Garden
 * Tuileries Palace
 * Chateau de Vincennes
 * Square du Vert-Galant
 * Palais de Justice, Paris
 * Conciergerie
 * National Museum of Natural History, France
 * Jardin des plantes
 * Lutetia
 * Île aux Juifs
 * Île de la Cité
 * Île Saint-Louis
 * Palais-Royal
 * Angers Cathedral
 * Church of Saint-Jean-le-Rond, Paris
 * Cathedral of Saint Etienne, Paris
 * Tours Cathedral
 * Sainte-Chapelle
 * Basilica of Saint-Denis
 * Rodez Cathedral
 * Auxerre Cathedral
 * Langres Cathedral
 * Strasbourg Cathedral
 * Evry Cathedral
 * Frejus Cathedral
 * Musée Toulouse-Lautrec in Albi
 * Albi Cathedral
 * Metz Cathedral
 * Bordeaux Cathedral
 * Rouen Cathedral
 * Troyes Cathedral
 * Bourges Cathedral
 * Reims Cathedral
 * Amiens Cathedral
 * Sens Cathedral
 * English Gothic stained glass windows
 * French Gothic stained glass windows
 * Italian Gothic architecture
 * Perpendicular Gothic architecture
 * Building a Gothic cathedral
 * High Gothic
 * Early Gothic architecture
 * Flamboyant (period of Gothic architecture)
 * Rayonnant (Period of Gothic architecture)
 * Gothic cathedrals and churches
 * List of most visited art museums
 * William of Sens (French Gothic architect)
 * English Gothic architecture
 * Pointed arch (architecture)
 * Exposition Universelle (1889), The Paris Universal Exposition of 1889, whose centerpiece was the Eiffel Tower
 * Hector Guimard
 * Gorky Museum, an early Art Nouveau house in Moscow
 * Art Nouveau glass art
 * Art Nouveau furniture
 * Whiplash (decorative art), Art Nouveau motif
 * William Morris textile designs
 * William Morris wallpaper designs
 * Liberty style, the Art Nouveau movement of Italy
 * Andrea Palladio
 * Style Sapin, Art Nouveau movement in Switzerland
 * École de Nancy, Art Nouveau movement in France
 * Art Nouveau in Paris
 * Art Nouveau in Brussels
 * Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann, French Art Deco furniture designer
 * Jean Dunand, French Art Deco artist
 * Art Deco in Paris
 * Linke Wienzeile Buildings by Otto Wagner in Vienna
 * Jugendstil in Germany
 * Art Nouveau posters and graphic arts
 * Josef Hoffmann
 * Otto Wagner
 * Vienna Secession
 * Baroque architecture
 * Romanticism in France
 * Panthéon, Paris
 * Sainte-Geneviève Library, Paris
 * Chartres Cathedral
 * François Rude, sculptor
 * Félix Vallotton
 * The Talisman (painting)
 * Edouard Vuillard
 * Pierre Bonnard
 * Les Nabis
 * Streamline moderne
 * Pierre Patout (Art Deco architect)
 * French sculpture
 * Rococo (Sculpture section)
 * Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, French neoclassical sculptor
 * Edmé Bouchardon, French Baroque sculptor
 * Jean-Baptiste Tuby, French Baroque sculptor
 * François Girardon, French Baroque sculptor
 * Pierre Puget, French Baroque sculptor
 * Antoine Coysevox, French Baroque sculptor
 * Jacques Sarazin French Baroque sculptor
 * Baroque garden
 * Jules Hardouin-Mansart, French architect
 * Château d'Écouen (French National Museum of the Renaissance)
 * French Romanesque architecture
 * Alphonse Mucha
 * Cardinal Mazarin
 * Gothic architecture
 * Notre Dame de Paris
 * French Gothic architecture
 * Palace of Versailles
 * Eugène Viollet-le-Duc
 * Ca' Rezzonico, Museum of 18th century Venetian art, Venice
 * Napoleon III style
 * Louis Philippe style
 * Neoclassicism in France
 * French Restoration style
 * French Empire style
 * Louis XVI style
 * Rocaille
 * Louis XVI furniture
 * Louis XV furniture
 * Louis XIV furniture
 * French baroque architecture
 * Style Louis XIV
 * Rococo
 * Baroque
 * Louis Quinze (style)
 * Louis XV of France
 * Maurice Denis
 * Nicolas Poussin
 * List of most visited museums
 * List of most visited art museums
 * Tamara de Lempicka
 * Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
 * Prosper Mérimée
 * Sarah Bernhardt
 * Jean Cocteau House
 * Zaha Hadid
 * Renzo Piano
 * Santiago Calatrava
 * Philip Johnson
 * Contemporary architecture
 * Postmodern architecture
 * Modern architecture
 * Le Corbusier
 * Art Nouveau
 * Auguste Perret
 * Art Deco
 * Art Deco in the United States
 * Writers in Paris
 * French Directory
 * Timeline of the French Revolution
 * Villa d'Este, Renaissance villa and garden in Tivoli, Italy
 * Villa Majorelle, an art nouveau house in Nancy, France
 * Lavirotte Building, an art nouveau apartment building in Paris
 * Adolphe Thiers, second President of France
 * Tour Jean-sans-Peur
 * Palais de la Cité
 * Architecture of Paris
 * Music in Paris
 * History of music in Paris
 * Economy of Paris
 * Saint-Germain-des-Prés
 * History of Paris (1946-2000)
 * Bibliothèque Mazarine, the Mazarin Library in Paris
 * Hôtel d'Estrées, residence of the Russian Ambassdor in Paris
 * Henri Sauvage (architect)
 * Paris in World War II
 * Paris between the Wars (1919-1939)
 * Paris architecture of the Belle Époque
 * St-Gervais-et-St-Protais
 * Art Nouveau, French and Belgian sections
 * Cabaret, French section
 * Paris in the 17th century
 * Paris during the First World War
 * Paris in the Belle Époque
 * Aristide Boucicaut
 * Paris under Louis-Philippe
 * Paris during the Restoration
 * Paris in the 18th century
 * Paris under Napoleon
 * Paris in the Middle Ages
 * Palace of Fontainebleau
 * Timeline of Paris
 * List of parks and gardens in Paris
 * Parc floral de Paris
 * Parc de Choisy
 * Parc Georges-Brassens
 * Parc de la Butte-du-Chapeau-Rouge
 * Promenade des Berges de la Seine (Paris park)
 * Musée du Quai Branly
 * Jean-Camille Formigé (architect)
 * History of Parks and Gardens of Paris
 * History of Paris
 * Paris during the Second Empire
 * Paris (text on the history of Paris, restaurants, and parks and gardens))
 * Paris Commune
 * Napoleon III

Earlier projects

 * Ultramarine, adding images and history to a very good article on the pigment and color.
 * Vermilion, adding additional history to a article on the color and pigment.
 * Villa di Castello, in Florence, a early Italian Renaissance garden.
 * Jean-Pierre Barillet-Deschamps, the first chief gardener of Paris
 * Parc Montsouris, Paris
 * Parc des Buttes-Chaumont
 * Bois de Boulogne
 * Bois de Vincennes
 * Complementary colors
 * Magenta
 * Cyan
 * Brown, cultural history of the color brown.
 * Purple, the cultural history of the color purple
 * Orange (colour), the cultural history of the color orange
 * Grey, the cultural history of the color gray
 * Violet, the cultural history of the color violet
 * White, the cultural history of the color white
 * Black, the cultural history of the color black
 * Yellow, the cultural history of the color yellow
 * Green, the cultural history of the color green
 * Red, the cultural history of the color red
 * Blue, the cultural history of the color blue
 * Venus with a Mirror, by Titian
 * The Japanese rock garden, also known as a zen garden
 * The Japanese garden, the history, meaning, and styles of the Japanese garden
 * Ryoan-ji, a classic Japanese zen garden in Kyoto
 * Murin-an, a beautiful 19th century garden in Kyoto
 * Daisen-in, another classic zen garden in Kyoto
 * Chinese Garden, the history of the classical Chinese garden
 * Kubla Khan, the poem by Samuel Taylor Colerdige
 * Xanadu, the summer palace of Kublai Khan
 * Tchaikovsky House-Museum in Klin, the country estate of Pyotr Tchaikovsky
 * Melikhovo, the country estate of Anton Chekhov, near Moscow
 * Milia Gataullina, contemporary Russian painter and graphic artist
 * François-Xavier Lalanne, a contemporary French artist and sculptor
 * The History of Provence
 * Terra Amata, archaeological site in Nice
 * Grotte du Vallonnet, archaeological site near Menton
 * Yasnaya Polyana, the estate of Leo Tolstoy, near Tula, Russia
 * Pavlovsk Palace near St. Petersburg, Russia
 * Spaso House, the residence of the U.S. Ambassador to Russia
 * The Fontaines de la Concorde, in Place de la Concorde, Paris
 * The Tuileries Garden in Paris
 * The Fontaine de Léda, a Paris fountain hidden behind the Medici Fountain
 * The Fontaine du Fellah in Paris
 * Jardin Atlantique in Paris
 * Fountains in Paris
 * François-Jean Bralle, a French engineer who built fifteen fountains in Paris under Napoleon Bonaparte.
 * Fountains in Moscow
 * Alexander Bourganov, Russian sculptor
 * Medici Fountain in Paris
 * Fontaine des Innocents in Paris
 * Stravinsky Fountain in Paris
 * Fontaine de l'Observatoire in Paris
 * Fontaine Saint-Michel in Paris
 * Fontana della Pigna in Rome
 * Fountain - the history of fountains (in progress)
 * Italian Renaissance garden
 * Kuskovo, an 18th century palace outside Moscow
 * Notable Gardens of France
 * French landscape garden
 * Garden à la française
 * Gardens of the French Renaissance
 * English Garden
 * Château de Sauvan
 * Château de la Napoule
 * The House of George Sand at Nohant
 * Olivier Voutier, the discover of the Venus de Milo
 * The French Riviera
 * Provence
 * The architecture of Provence
 * Bouillabaisse
 * Petanque
 * Le Train Bleu (passenger train)
 * The Winds of Provence
 * The Mistral (wind), the Tramontane, Marin (wind) and the Levant (wind)
 * The Mas (Provencal Farmhouse).
 * The Bastide (Provencal Manor).
 * Le Thoronet Abbey
 * Silvacane Abbey
 * Montmajour Abbey
 * Var (department)
 * Gulf of Lion
 * Toulon
 * Toulon Cathedral
 * The bagne of Toulon
 * Fréjus Cathedral
 * Church of St. Trophime in Arles
 * Aix Cathedral in Aix-en-Provence
 * French literature of the 18th century
 * Evariste de Parny (French 18th century poet)
 * Notable Gardens of France
 * The Soviet sale of Hermitage paintings
 * Adriaen Hanneman, a 17th century Dutch painter
 * Painted Ladies, San Francisco Victorian Houses
 * St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco
 * Januarius MacGahan, an American journalist in Bulgaria in the 19th century
 * Eugene Schuyler, an American diplomat in Constantinople in the 19th century
 * Bulgarian-American relations
 * The April Uprising in Bulgarian history
 * Russian Church, Sofia
 * Carmen Sandiego (computer game)
 * Sociology about Abbe Seiyes, who coined the word 'sociology'