It will run through the beginning of the Capetian dynasty to nowadays and will focus on everything related to France and its history.
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Powder flask
- Place of origin:
France (made)
- Date:
1574 (dated)
This powder flask is of carved staghorn and is made by an unknown artist in France in 1574.
The flask is decorated with a scene depicting Samson killing the lion.
Powder flasks are portable containers of wood, horn, metal, leather or ceramic used to hold the priming powder or gunpowder for firearms. They normally terminated in a metal nozzle which also served as a powder measure, closed by a plug or spring cap, and are often highly decorated.
![Fort Saint-Jean à Marseille
@credits
Fort Saint-Jean is a fortification in Marseille, built in 1660 by Louis XIV at the entrance to the Old Port. Since 2013 it is linked by two thin bridges to the historical district Le Panier and to the first French national museum outside Paris called Musée des Civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée.
Fort Saint-Jean was built on a site earlier occupied by the Military Order of the Knights Hospitaller of Saint John, from which the new building deprived its name. Fort Saint-Nicolas was constructed at the same time on the opposite side of the harbour. Commenting on their construction, Louis XIV said, “We noticed that the inhabitants of Marseille were extremely fond of nice fortresses. We wanted to have our own at the entrance to this great port.” [1] In fact, the two new forts were built in response to a local uprising against the governor, rather than for the defence of the city: their cannons pointed inwards towards the town, not outwards towards the sea.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/6fcbd2c6784d561e1b4fa4400d20adea/tumblr_mm4lbh1qnL1r4iw2yo1_500.jpg)
Fort Saint-Jean à Marseille
Fort Saint-Jean is a fortification in Marseille, built in 1660 by Louis XIV at the entrance to the Old Port. Since 2013 it is linked by two thin bridges to the historical district Le Panier and to the first French national museum outside Paris called Musée des Civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée.
Fort Saint-Jean was built on a site earlier occupied by the Military Order of the Knights Hospitaller of Saint John, from which the new building deprived its name. Fort Saint-Nicolas was constructed at the same time on the opposite side of the harbour. Commenting on their construction, Louis XIV said, “We noticed that the inhabitants of Marseille were extremely fond of nice fortresses. We wanted to have our own at the entrance to this great port.” [1] In fact, the two new forts were built in response to a local uprising against the governor, rather than for the defence of the city: their cannons pointed inwards towards the town, not outwards towards the sea.
Les fortifiacations de Vauban: ville de Neuf-Brisach, citadelle de Besançon et Tour Vauban
Fortifications of Vauban consists of 12 groups of fortified buildings and sites along the western, northern and eastern borders of France. They represent the finest examples of the work of Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban (1633-1707), a military engineer of King Louis XIV. The serial property includes towns built from scratch by Vauban, citadels, urban bastion walls and bastion towers. There are also mountain forts, sea forts, a mountain battery and two mountain communication structures. This property is inscribed as bearing witness to the peak of classic fortifications, typical of western military architecture. Vauban also played a major role in the history of fortification in Europe and on other continents until the mid-19th century.
L’œuvre de Vauban comprend 12 groupes de bâtiments fortifiés et de constructions le long des frontières nord, est et ouest de la France. Ils constituent les meilleurs exemples du travail de Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban (1633-1707), l’architecte militaire de Louis XIV. Cette série comprend des villes neuves créées ex-nihilo, des citadelles, des enceintes urbaines à bastions et des tours bastionnées. Y figurent aussi des forts de montagne, des forts de côte, une batterie de montagne et deux structures de communication en montagne. Ces sites sont inscrits en tant que témoins de l’apogée de la fortification bastionnée classique, typique de l’architecture militaire occidentale. Vauban a joué un rôle majeur dans l’histoire des fortifications en influençant l’architecture militaire en Europe, mais aussi sur les autres continents jusqu’au milieu du XIXe siècle.
PS: French motto for Vauban? Town besieged by Vauban will be taken. Town defended by Vauban can’t be.
This website (in French, sorry) is about the artistic depiction of WW1. It proposes some pieces of art created during the conflict by well known artists of that time, as well as extracts from soldiers’ diaries or novels about the war.
Tata sénégalais de Chasselay
The tata de Chasselay is a necropole located in Chasselay where 194 tirailleurs from different African coutries are buried, after being slaughtered by the SS division Totenkopf in 1940. The necropole arbours an African architecture. Tata, in wolof, means “sacred wall” where warriors are buried.
“LIONS ARMOUR” ATTRIBUTED TO FRANCIS I (1494-1547)
In view of its lion symbolism and proportions, “The lions armour” probably belonged to Francis I. It would have fitted the sovereign, who was 1.98 m tall. Its origin also gives us an additional clue: the armour was kept at the armoury of the Princes of Condé, at Chantilly Castle. Unlike war armour, this suit does not include a mesail (face guard), or leg guards. It is parade armour, to exalt the monarch’s heroic aspect.
“The lions armour” is in keeping with the “Grande maniera” style, which was developed by Milanese armourers from 1530 onwards and inspired by the equipment worn by warrior heroes in Classical Antiquity. This armour is the work of Giovanni Paolo Negroli, who excelled at making decorations in relief adorned with damascene (gold and silver inlay).
The theme of the lion, king of the beasts and a symbol of manly virtues, can be seen on the helmet, shoulders, elbows and hands (visual 2).
The visitor will also notice the necklace of the Order of Saint Michael, an order of knights founded by Louis XI, with metalwork at the chest. Identifiable by its shell patterns, its medallion shows the archangel defeating the demon, huddled at his feet.
Beneath this necklace, the silver cross on the breastplate is thought to be that of Savoy, in reference to Francis I’s mother, Louise of Savoy, princess of the ducal house of Savoy. It may also refer to the white cross of the French armies.
Camp des Milles
The Camp des Milles was a French internment camp, opened in September 1939, in a former tile factory near the village of Les Milles, part of the commune of Aix-en-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône)
The camp was first used to intern Germans and ex-Austrians living in the Marseille area, and by June 1940, some 3,500 artists and intellectuals were detained there. Inmates included men of letters such as Fritz Brugel, Leon Feuchtwanger, William Herzog, Alfred Kantorowicz, Golo Mann, Walter Hasenclever, scientists such as Nobel Prize laureate Otto Fritz Meyerhof, as well as musicians and painters such as Erich Itor Kahn, Hans Bellmer, Max Ernst, Hermann Henry Gowa, Gustave Herlich, Max Lingner, Ferdinand Springer, Franz Meyer, Jan Meyerowitz, Franz Waxman, François Willi Wendt and Robert Liebknecht.
Between 1941 and 1942 Le Camp des Milles was used as a transit camp for Jews, mainly men. Women were at the Centre Bompard in Marseille, while they waited for their visas and anthorisation to emigrate. As emigration became impossible, Les Milles became one of the centres de rassemblement before deportation. About 2,000 of the inmates were shipped off to theDrancy internment camp on the way to Auschwitz. After the war, the site was briefly re-opened in 1946 as a factory.
Prise de Strasbourg et sa région par la 2e DB (Division Blindée).Description : Lors des combats de libération de Strasbourg le 23 novembre 1944, les habitants du Pont du Rhin fuient pour se replier vers le centre ville. Ils passent ici avenue Jean Jaurès.Date : Novembre 1944
During the fights for the liberation of Strasbourg on the 23th of November 1944, the inhabitants of the Pont au Rhin flied towards the town center. They’re shown here crossing the Jean Jaurès avenue
This cap was worn by a grenadier officer of the Royal Ecossais, a Scottish infantry regiment in the French Army. Made of dark blue velvet and scarlet silk, it is embroidered with the French fleur-de-lys and the Scottish thistle.
Uniform worn by Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Marengo.
