Description

Verdun is regarded in France as the one battle that sums up the terrible sacrifice of World War I. It was not the bloodiest battle, even though losses were terribly high, but the French saw it as their worst battle, and it has been perceived that way ever since. It owes its place in French memory to the number of soldiers fighting at the front: three quarters of the French army served at Verdun at some time during the ten months which the battle lasted. Due to the soldier’s memories, it became a national experience, as this saying reveals: Anyone who was not at Verdun was not in the war. After the war, memorials were created, not only in Verdun, but all over France. There is not a city in France without a “Rue de Verdun”.

Reims is the capital of the region called Champagne and is tied to the story of Jeanne d’Arc, who successfully led a number of battles which paved the way for the coronation of Charles VII in Reims in 1429. Jeanne d’Arc has remained an important national heroine. The cathedral there is a magnificent example of early Gothic architecture and, as such, listed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

The French 19th century historian, Jules Michelet put it this way: Paris conquered France: and France the world. Paris is not the world’s most visited city for nothing. The history of France has for the most part been made in Paris, and the national memory sites are numerous. Paris will tell you different stories depending on where you go in Paris is so much more and so much more complex than the tourist images everyone knows. One of the largest challenges as a visitor to Paris is to get rid of those images and forehand expectations, and instead experience Paris in its diversity.