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Falaise Castle is a thousand-year-old Anglo-Norman fortress in Normandy. It was extensively restored and controversially modernised between 1987 and 1997 to tell the story of the early Dukes of Normandy, including the man who went on to become known as William the Conqueror.
The first Norman king of England would not recognise the place where he was born in 1027, as three keeps were subsequently added. The oldest quadrangular keep was built during the reign of Henry I in 1123, with Henry II later adding an extension. King Philip II of France built the large round tower in the 13th century, after claiming the Duchy of Normandy for France. This became known as the Talbot Tower, after the English commander who had it repaired during the Hundred Years’ War, between 1337 and 1453.
The castle is now an interactive museum for visitors with tablets containing extensive information about the castle and its history.
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France is affectionately referred to as "the Hexagon" for its overall shape.French history goes back to the Gauls, a Celtic tribe which inhabited the area circa 300BC until being conquered by Julius Caesar.The Franks were the first tribe to adopt Catholic Christianity after the Roman Empire collapsed. France became an independent location in the Treaty of Verdun in (843 AD), which divided up Charlemagne's Carolingian Empire into several portions.The French monarchy reached its zenith during the reign of Louis XIV, the Sun King, who stood for seventy-two years as the Monarch of all Monarchs. His palace of Versailles and its Hall of Mirrors are a splendid treasure-trove of Baroque art.The French Revolution ended the rule of the monarchy with the motto "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity!" On July 14th, 1789 angry mobs stormed La Bastille prison and began the Revolution in which Louis XVI, his wife Marie-Antoinette and thousands of others met the guillotine.One decade after the revolution, Napolean Bonaparte seized control of the Republic and named himself Emperor. His armies conquered most of Europe and his Napoleonic Code became a lasting legal foundation for concepts of personal status and property.During the period of colonization France controlled the largest empire in the world, second only to Britain.France is one of the founding members of the European Union and the United Nations, as well as one of the nuclear armed nations of the world.Text by Steve Smith.
