French architecture. Part 2

The art in France

France has a large cultural heritage made of its architecture, which has been witness to a long history of encounters of different cultures and civilizations; out of the 731 world heritage sites registered in UNESCO, 31 belong to France, making it the third country in the world with more cultural sites. Among the art in France related to architecture are: 

• L’abbaye de Fontenay – A religious exemple.
• Les châteaux de la Loire – A political example. 
• La saline royale d’Arc-et-Senans – Industrial.
• Les villes fortifiées par Vauban – Military. 
• La plaza Stanislas de Nancy – Urban.

The original French Architecture

Although there is no longer a French architecture properly speaking since the Gothic style (the original French Architecture) was adopted by all of Europe, France has kept the most extraordinary examples of each epoch: from the roman architecture (Le pont du gard) to the after-war (Le Centre-ville dy Havre); going through the best of the roman (L’abbaye de Saint-Savin-sure-Gartempe), gothic (La Cathedrale d’Amiens), and classic (Le canal du midi).

The landscape of each region in France is a different tour through a theme park of each point in time. The different styles of architecture found in the country go from the very modern to rustic and ancient looking.

The history of architecture in France

The history of architecture in France started, like most of Europe with the Romanesque architecture withholding the most impressive samples of all of all Europe. After the Hundred Year’s War with the invitation of many artists from Italy and Spain started the French Renaissance, leaving its best masterpieces in the Loire Valley. By the end of the middle age France had taken in the Baroque Architecture giving the world the finest samples not in the religious constructions but in the political and military ones; so much so that the world took the model of Les Villes Fortifiées by Vauban to design military fortress around the globe. 

The Paris Eiffel Tower

Following the French Revolution France took preference for Neoclassicism and when Napoleon Bonaparte took charge, a peculiar favoritism for urbanism in France was born, bringing to life the most renowned piece of architecture in the world, the Paris Eiffel Tower. Nowadays the architecture in France is devoted to merge its old architecture with the modern withholding the harmony inside and a great example of its success is the Pyramid of Louver.