France is involved in conflicts in Syria and Iraq, its forces are in northern Mali and it is under a state of emergency at home. But the Art of Peace exhibition hopes to get people thinking about the ideal, if not the reality, of peace that France promoted from the Middle Ages to the present day.
"The question of war is more studied and showed than the question of peace in history and history of art," says Gaelle Rio, curator at the Art of peace, treasures of diplomacy exhibition at the Petit Palais in Paris.
"The main aim of this exhibition is to see history with this important link to peace and I think it’s important, even more important, today in these troubled times."
France's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has opened up its impressive diplomatic archives to the public for the first time. More than a hundred peace treaties and other documents are on show, tracing France’s diplomatic role over the last five hundred years. Some of the earlier treaties and letters are literally works of art.
The Art of Peace exhibition runs at the Petit Palais through 15 January 2017.
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