France is undoubtedly one of the most desired tourist destinations not only of Europe , but of the whole world. Its capital, Paris, receives millions of visitors annually, but it is not the only interesting city in the country. Bordeaux , Marseille, Lyon and other villas compete in attractive with places like the beautiful coast of Brittany or the prehistoric sites of the Vézerère Valley to name a few. Join us to know these 50 Curious facts from France that may be unexpected for you.
To begin we will say that the importance of France has not only to do with its huge population and its tremendous size as a country, but its historical and cultural weight have also been decisive in the development of the Europe we know today. For being such an important and revolutionary nation, let's see some of the Curious facts of France that maybe you did not know! Discover its secrets!
50 Curious facts of France
1. One of the Curious facts of France is that it has 12 different time zones and this is because it has overseas territories.
2. France has been one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council since the end of the Second World War.
3. The capital of France , Paris , it exists since the third century BC and was founded on the île de la Cité by a tribe of Celtic Gauls called Parisii . During the Roman occupation it was known as Lutetia.
4. In Brittany you can visit a megalithic site called Carnac. It is believed that it is even earlier than Stonehenge . There are more than 3,000 vertical stones dated between 5000 and 3500 BC.
5. If you want to see one of the highest road bridges in the world, you can drive along the Millau Viaduct. It was designed by British architect Sir Norman Foster and opened in 2005. It has a height of 343 m. on the bottom of the valley.
6. Another of the Curious facts of France is that it was the first country to legalize sexual activity between people of the same sex and did so in 1791.
7. The NGO "Doctors Without Borders" was founded by a group of French doctors in 1971. It received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999.
8. More information about France really curious: His army is the only one in Europe that still has carrier pigeons. They are ready to be used in case of disasters that prevent other types of communication.
9. If you travel through France you will realize that it is the country of the roundabouts. They have about 30,000, which is more than a half of all the roundabouts in the world.
10. In France the municipality with the shortest name is Y. It is in the department of the Somme.
11. Another of the Curious facts of France is that it is the country with the most winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature. In total, 15.
12. It is interesting to know that in the country there are about 40,000 castles.
13. One of the national treasures is the Bayeux Tapestry, it was created around the year 1070 and recreates the story of how William the Conqueror at the command of the Normans conquered England in the year 1066.
14 Leonardo da Vinci , the last years of his life, he lived in France. He did it at the Château du Clos Lucé in Amboise. He lived from 1516 until his death in 1519.
15. The Gioconda , the most well-known work of the Italian master is kept in the Louvre Museum, one of the most important pinacotheques in the world, where it is its main star. The Louvre was originally built as a fortress in the 12th century.
16. To get an idea of the importance of French culture there is nothing more to take a walk by the Père Lachaise cemetery of Paris . There are the tombs of famous people, some French and others who lived in the country. Among them Frédéric Chopin, Honoré de Balzac, Marcel Proust, Sarah Bernhardt, Pissarro, Seuret, Modigliani, Oscar Wilde and many more.
17. The father of the modern Olympic Games, Baron Pierre de Coubertin was also French.
18. Every year in the month of May, in the French city of Cannes, the most important film festival in the world takes place.
19. The French flag , called "Le drapeau tricolore" is one of the symbols of French culture. This flag was created in 1790 during the French Revolution.
20. The moldy veins of Roquefort cheese are formed when molds of the genus Penicillium develop internally.
21. The success of the French monk Dom Pierre Pérignon in the seventeenth century to make sparkling wine, was due to the fact that he used a different type of bottle, made in England, and covered the bottles with corks brought from Spain, something that had not been done. predecessors.
22. One of the curious facts about France that he asks the most is how tall is the Eiffel Tower . The structure built by Gustave Eiffel measures 324 meters of height counting the antenna of its top part.
23. We can not say that the guillotine is one of the traditions of France , but if its inventor was the French doctor Joseph-Ignace Guillotin and devised it in an attempt to make executions more humane. France abolished the death penalty in 1981.
24. The country adopted as anthem of France "La Marseillaise" in 1795.
25. The original name of the anthem of France was "Le chant de guerre pour l'Armée du Rhin", bone "War song for the Rhine army". She became famous when the National Guard of Marseille sang it while marching towards Paris during the French Revolution.
26. A new book about the world is published every day French cuisine .
27. France is the second most populous country in the European Union, second only to Germany.
28. One of the curious facts about France is that it legalized marriage between people of the same sex in 2013.
29 Marseille is the oldest city in France . It was founded by the Greeks in the year 600 a. C. It is also the second largest city in the country, after Paris!
30. France is the country with more nuclear power plants per person of the world. It has 58 reactors for its 66 million inhabitants. It is followed by Japan with 54 reactors for 127 million inhabitants.
31. The French were the first to have an organized public transport system in a city. It arose in Paris in 1662 and it was about the omnibus.
32. Another of the curiosities of France is that they have the most powerful radar ship in the world. Is called " Monge "And its function is to detect nuclear missiles and their trajectory.
33. France is the country where McDonald's works best, after the US. UU There are more than 1000 restaurants in the chain distributed throughout its territory.
34. A curious fact about France, as striking as it is sad, is that there are several municipalities with a mayor who do not have inhabitants. Cast? These towns were destroyed after the Second World War. However, their mayors have the responsibility to ensure their good maintenance .
35. North is the department (territorial entity that divides France) with more inhabitants. It has more than 2.5 million inhabitants.
36. The French department with the least inhabitants is Lozère, which has 80,000 inhabitants.
37. A real French law prohibits calling any pig "Napoleon".
38. The last time a guillotine was used as an official method of execution in France was very recently, in 1977. In France, the guillotine was last used in 1977.
39. The guillotine remained the official method of execution for people sentenced to death until, in 1981, the death penalty was abolished.
40. The first face transplant in the world was performed in France by French surgeons in 2005.
41. In 2010, French gastronomy was declared a "World Heritage Site" by UNESCO. What a treat!
42. Another curious fact about France is that the great cycling event known as the "Tour de France" has existed for more than 100 years. The first edition of this competition was held on July 1, 1903.
43. Did you know that one of the favorite dishes of the French are cooked snails or "escargots"? The French consume almost 30,000 tons of snails per year .
44. There are between 350 and 450 types of French cheese.
45. Despite what is said, the croissant was officially invented in Austria, not in France.
46. One of the curious facts about France is that its continental territory is nicknamed "The Hexagon" because of its shape. You see it?
47. French was the official language of England for almost 300 years, from 1066 to the year 1362.
48. Did you know that in France they have a "bloody house"? It's in Aisne and Here you can know its history.
49. The Louvre is the most visited Art Museum in the world.
50. According to 2011 statistics who valued the amount of wine consumed in France, on average, each French consumes 1.2 bottles of wine per week. They love this drink! Maybe because their wines are the best in the world, right?
Other curiosities of Europe | By countries
France is not the only country we have investigated the most surprising. Do you want to know more curiosities of Europe ? We have compiled them by country, so that each nation has the opportunity to amaze you with its curious data. Are you ready to discover them?
- Curiosities of Spain
- Fun Facts of England
- Curiosities of Scotland
- Curiosities of Ireland
- Curiosities of Germany
- Curiosities of Switzerland
- Curiosities of Italy
- Curiosities of Greece
- Curiosities of Austria
- Curiosities of Luxembourg
- Iceland Curiosities
- Curiosities of Norway
- Curiosities of Sweden
- Curiosities of Denmark
- Curiosities of Belgium
Did you know these Curious facts of France ? Undoubtedly, its importance at a tourist level was deductible, but seeing the figures has a huge impact, as well as the amount of varieties of cheeses they have in this nation and snails that they consume. Have you been surprised too? Do you know any curiosities about France anymore? Share it with us! Maybe so we can expand this list. We await your comments!
Image: Y