Unesco Heritage Sites
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Abbey Church of Saint-Savin sur Gartempe
Known as the 'Romanesque Sistine Chapel', the Abbey-Church of Saint-Savin contains many beautiful 11th- and 12th-century murals which are still in a remarkable state of preservation.
Amiens Cathedral
Arles, Roman and Romanesque Monuments
Belfries of Belgium and France
Built between the 11th and 17th centuries, the twenty-three belfries in the north of France and thirty-two in Belgium showcase the Roman, Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque styles of architecture. Originally, a belfry was erected as a sign of communal independence obtained by charter, and as the very symbol of freedom. Compared to the keep (symbol of the seigneurs, i.e. feudal lord) and to the bell-tower (symbol of the Church), the belfry, the third tower in the urban landscape, symbolizes the power of the aldermen. Over the centuries, they came to represent the influence and wealth of the towns.
Bourges Cathedral
Canal du Midi
 This 360-km network of navigable waterways linking the Mediterranean and the Atlantic through 328 structures (locks, aqueducts, bridges, tunnels, etc.) is one of the most remarkable feats of civil engineering in modern times. Built between 1667 and 1694, it paved the way for the Industrial Revolution. The care that its creator, Pierre-Paul Riquet, took in the design and the way it blends with its surroundings turned a technical achievement into a work of art.
Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Former Abbey of Saint-Remi and Palace of Tau, Reims
Chartres Cathedral
Cistercian Abbey of Fontenay
This stark Burgundian monastery was founded by St Bernard in 1119. With its church, cloister, refectory, sleeping quarters, bakery and ironworks, it is an excellent illustration of the ideal of self-sufficiency as practised by the earliest communities of Cistercian monks. |
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 France in Europe
(map)
Form of government:
republic with two legislative houses
Chief of state: President
Head of government: Prime Minister
Official language: French
Population estimate: (2005) 60,733,000
Total area (sq km): 543,965
Reference: Britannica | |
Historic Centre of Avignon: Papal Palace, Episcopal Ensemble and Avignon Bridge
Historic Fortified City of Carcassonne
Historic Site of Lyons
Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion
Viticulture was introduced to this fertile region of Aquitaine by the Romans, and intensified in the Middle Ages. The Saint-Emilion area benefited from its location on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela and many churches, monasteries and hospices were built there from the 11th century onwards. It was granted the special status of a 'jurisdiction' during the period of English rule in the 12th century. It is an exceptional landscape devoted entirely to wine-growing, with many fine historic monuments in its towns and villages.
Le Havre, the City Rebuilt by Auguste Perret
Mont-Saint-Michel and its Bay
Palace and Park of Fontainebleau
Used by the kings of France from the 12th century, the medieval royal hunting lodge of Fontainebleau, standing at the heart of a vast forest in the Ile-de-France, was transformed, enlarged and embellished in the 16th century by François I, who wanted to make a 'New Rome' of it. Surrounded by an immense park, the Italianate palace combines Renaissance and French artistic traditions.
Palace and Park of Versailles
Paris, Banks of the Seine
Place Stanislas, Place de la Carrière and Place d'Alliance in Nancy
Pont du Gard (Roman Aqueduct)
Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley
Provins, Town of Medieval Fairs
Roman Theatre and its Surroundings and the "Triumphal Arch" of Orange
Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France
Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans
The Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans, near Besançon, was built by Claude-Nicolas Ledoux. Its construction, begun in 1775 during the reign of Louis XVI, was the first major achievement of industrial architecture, reflecting the ideal of progress of the Enlightenment. This vast, semicircular complex was designed to permit a rational and hierarchical organization of work and was to have been followed by the building of an ideal city, a project that was never realized.
Strasbourg – Grande île
The Loire Valley between Sully-sur-Loire and Chalonnes
Vézelay, Church and Hill
Shortly after its foundation in the 9th century, the Benedictine abbey of Vézelay acquired the relics of St Mary Magdalene and since then it has been an important place of pilgrimage. St Bernard preached the Second Crusade there in 1146 and Richard the Lion-Hearted and Philip II Augustus met there to leave for the Third Crusade in 1190. With its sculpted capitals and portal, the Madeleine of Vézelay – a 12th-century monastic church – is a masterpiece of Burgundian Romanesque art and architecture.
Reference: Unesco
For more information, please visit the French Unesco Heritage Page: Link
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