History Italy Rome Italy 1956 The Château de Chenonceau nowadays part of UNESCO World Heritage Site was built early 16th centuryThe French Renaissance saw spectacular cultural development first standardisation of French language which would become official language of France language of Europe's aristocracy also saw long set of wars known Italian Wars between France Spain Holy Roman Empire Refusing accept Spanish-Portuguese claims of supremacy New World King Francis I ordered his privateers sail against his Spanish rival King Charles V who ruled Holy Roman Emperor from 1519 until 1556 Emperor's realm extended from Spain parts of what now Italy Austria Germany Belgium Netherlands French explorers such Jacques Cartier or Samuel de Champlain claimed lands Americas France paving way expansion of First French colonial empire rise of Protestantism Europe led France civil war known French Wars of Religion where most notorious incident thousands of Huguenots were murdered St Bartholomew's Day massacre of 1572Wars of Religion were ended Henry IV's Edict of Nantes which granted some freedom of religion HuguenotsUnder Louis XIII energetic Cardinal Richelieu promoted centralisation of state reinforced royal power disarming domestic power holders 1620s He systematically destroyed castles of defiant lords denounced use of private violence (dueling carrying weapons maintaining private army) end of 1620s Richelieu established the royal monopoly of force doctrine France Spain fought 24-year war (the Franco-Spanish War) until signing of Treaty of Pyrenees 1659 war cost France 300,000 casualties During Louis XIV's minority regency of Queen Anne Cardinal Mazarin period of trouble known Fronde occurred France This rebellion was driven great feudal lords sovereign courts reaction rise of royal absolute power FranceLouis XIV of France standing plate armor blue sash facing left holding baton. Église Saint-Nizier Gothic church from 15th century having doorway carved 16th century Philibert Delorme. The Opéra de Marseille, Passage Jouffroy Tour Eiffel sunrise from trocadero, European map of Eurozone monetary union Palais des congrès de Lyon (1998) designed Renzo Piano group of buildings various functions! Ambox current red.svg Vieux Lyon (English Old Lyon) area Mediaeval Renaissance quarter of town with shops dining cobbled streets, FranceNormandy Origins A TGV Duplex crossing Cize–Bolozon viaduct train can reach maximum speed of 360 kilometres per hour (220 mph)The railway network of France which of 2008 stretches 29,473 kilometres (18,314 mi) second most extensive Western Europe after that of Germany operated SNCF high-speed trains include Thalys Eurostar TGV which travels 320 km/h (199 mph) commercial useEurostar along with Eurotunnel Shuttle connects with United Kingdom through Channel Tunnel Rail connections exist all other neighbouring countries Europe except Andorra Intra-urban connections also well developed with both underground services (Paris Lyon Lille Marseille Toulouse Rennes) tramway services (Nantes Strasbourg Bordeaux Grenoble Montpellier...) complementing bus servicesThere approximately 1,027,183 kilometres (638,262 mi) of serviceable roadway France ranking most extensive network of European continentParis region enveloped with most dense network of roads highways that connect with virtually all parts of country French roads also handle substantial international traffic connecting with cities neighbouring Belgium Luxembourg Germany Switzerland Italy Spain Andorra Monaco There no annual registration fee or road tax however usage of mostly privately owned motorways through tolls except vicinity of large communes new car market dominated domestic brands such Renault (27% of cars sold France 2003) Peugeot (20.1%) Citroën (13.5%) Over 70% of new cars sold 2004 had diesel engines far more than contained petrol or LPG engines France possesses Millau Viaduct world's tallest bridge, has built many important bridges such Pont de NormandieAir France one of biggest airlines worldThere 464 airports France Charles de Gaulle Airport located vicinity of Paris largest busiest airport country handling vast majority of popular commercial traffic connecting Paris with virtually all major cities across world Air France national carrier airline although numerous private airline companies provide domestic international travel services There ten major ports France largest of which Marseille, which also largest bordering Mediterranean Sea 12,261 kilometres (7,619 mi) of waterways traverse France including Canal du Midi which connects Mediterranean Sea Atlantic Ocean through Garonne riverScience technology, Main articles History of France § Napoleonic France (1799–1815) History of France § Long 19th century 1815–1914 First French Empire Second French Empire French colonial empire. The Paris Catacombs hold remains of approximately 6 million peopleIn Paris's Roman era its main cemetery was located outskirts of Left Bank settlement but this changed with rise of Catholicism where most every inner-city church had adjoining burial grounds use their parishes With Paris's growth many of these particularly city's largest cemetery les Innocents were filled overflowing creating quite unsanitary conditions capital When inner-city burials were condemned from 1786 contents of all Paris's parish cemeteries were transferred renovated section of Paris's stone mines outside Porte d'Enfer city gate today place Denfert-Rochereau 14th arrondissementprocess of moving bones from Cimetière des Innocents catacombs took place between 1786 1814 part of network of tunnels remains can be visited today official tour of catacombsAfter tentative creation of several smaller suburban cemeteries Prefect Nicholas Frochot under Napoleon Bonaparte provided more definitive solution creation of three massive Parisian cemeteries outside city limits Open from 1804 these were cemeteries of Père Lachaise Montmartre Montparnasse later Passy these cemeteries became inner-city once again when Paris annexed all neighbouring communes inside of its much larger ring of suburban fortifications 1860 New suburban cemeteries were created early 20th century largest of these Cimetière parisien de Saint-Ouen Cimetière parisien de Pantin (also known Cimetière parisien de Pantin-Bobigny) Cimetière parisien d'Ivry Cimetière parisien de Bagneux Some of most famous people world buried Parisian cemeteriesHealthcare! Rhône-AlpesOccitanie Charles de Gaulle took active part many major events of 20th century hero of World War I leader of Free French during World War II he then became President where he facilitated decolonisation maintained France major power overcame revolt of May 1968French-marked USAF C-119 flown CIA pilots over Dien Bien Phu 1954. The first book printed France Epistolae (Letters) Gasparinus de Bergamo (Gasparino da Barzizza) was published Paris 1470 press established Johann Heynlin Since then Paris has been centre of French publishing industry home of some of world's best-known writers poets setting many classic works of French literature Almost all books published Paris Middle Ages were Latin rather than French Paris did not become acknowledged capital of French literature until 17th century with authors such Boileau Corneille La Fontaine Molière Racine several coming from provinces foundation of Académie française 18th century literary life of Paris revolved around cafés salons was dominated Voltaire Jean-Jacques Rousseau Pierre de Marivaux BeaumarchaisDuring 19th century Paris was home subject some of France's greatest writers including Charles Baudelaire Stéphane Mallarmé Mérimée Alfred de Musset Marcel Proust Émile Zola Alexandre Dumas Gustave Flaubert Guy de Maupassant Honoré de Balzac Victor Hugo's Hunchback of Notre Dame inspired renovation of its setting Notre-Dame de Paris Another of Victor Hugo's works Les Misérables written while he was exile outside France during Second Empire described social change political turmoil Paris early 1830s One of most popular of all French writers Jules Verne worked Theatre Lyrique Paris stock exchange while he did research his stories National Library.[citation not found]. Maison Carrée temple Nemausus Corinthian columns portico, Église Saint-Bonaventure 14th- 15th-century Gothic church, Église Saint-Paul Romanesque (12th 13th century) Gothic (15th–16th century) church.
France especially Paris has some of world's largest renowned museums including Louvre which most visited art museum world (5.7 million) Musée d'Orsay (2.1 million) mostly devoted Impressionism Centre Georges Pompidou (1.2 million) dedicated contemporary art Disneyland Paris Europe's most popular theme park with 15 million combined visitors resort's Disneyland Park Walt Disney Studios Park 2009French Riviera. A view of Seine Île de la Cité Bateau Mouche Marseille listed major centre of art history city has many museums galleries there many ancient buildings churches of historical interestCentral Marseille; Painting sculpture Electricity provided Paris through peripheral grid fed multiple sources of 2012 around 50% of electricity generated Île-de-France comes from cogeneration energy plants located near outer limits of region other energy sources include Nogent nuclear power plant (35%) trash incineration (9% – with cogeneration plants these provide city heat well) methane gas (5%) hydraulics (1%) solar power (0.1%) negligible amount of wind power (0.034 GWh)quarter of Paris's district heating come from plant Saint-Ouen burning 50/50-mix of coal 140,000 tonnes of wood pellets from USA per yearWater sanitation.
Arvins Plumbing