July 14, the French National Holiday
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| Place de la Bastille (Wikipedia). I have recently seen this memorial from a moving taxi! |
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| The storming of the Bastille, July 14, 1789 (Wikipedia) |
Today marks the anniversary of the fall of the Bastille, a huge prison and armory in Paris. The Bastille represented the worst of the repression of the common people by the French kings. On July 14, 1789, after four hours of fighting and 94 deaths, revolutionary fighters finally took over this highly fortified structure. It was razed to the ground, and now is memorialized at Place de la Bastille where a large commemorative sculpture stands in the place of the destroyed prison.
To celebrate Bastille Day, I've looked up some photos of Paris that connect to the holiday -- these are not my own photos!
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| Celebrating the result of last week’s election at Place de la Bastille. (I wasn't there.) |
The Revolution in Murals at Bastille Metro Station
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| Photos from metro websites. I have not been to this station except on a moving train. |
Blog post by mae sander 2024
17 comments:
Love the mural, great collection of photos.
Take care, have a wonderful week!
Thanks for sharing these images
As a kid I thought they released hundreds of political prisoners, but found there were only a handful there. They were no doubt happy, anyway. But yes, it was an icon of repression, best gone.
All I can think about whenever I hear the word "Bastille" is that episode of I Love Lucy where Lucy cries "Ricky, I'm in the Bastille!" :-D
We were in Paris recently and the murals in their metro system are amazing. Thanks for sharing.
Happy Bastille Day! These are terrific images!
My parents went to Ste. Genevieve, Missouri one year for Bastille Day and participated in some kind of reenactment. I can't find evidence that is still an activity, but it sounded fun.
Lovely murals.
Yes Boud above is right. There were only 7 prisoners in the Bastille at the time: 4 forgers, 2 insane people and 1 criminal. But the crowd had not come to free them, the crowd thought the Bastille had lots of weapons.
An important day in world history!
Very cool murals. Lovely work! #MuralMonday (and jealous of your Paris pics)
Nice Bastille murals. Thanks for participating in Monday Murals Mae.
Great murals!
We spent our Bastille Day at a French style market so that was a bit of fun!
Love the murals. Happy Bastille Day!
I didn't know about these murals, cool!
We arrived in France a few years ago the day before the Bastille Day celebrations and made sure to shop for groceries in anticipation of the stores being closed. They were - but other than that there seemed to be little fanfare. We were nestled in the foothills of the Pyrenees, close by the border with Spain, so perhaps we were far from the action.
It always seems as if there are some who want to oppress others, and, likewise, those who are striving to overcome the oppression. This event, for me, is a momentous event. Sometimes good can win out.
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