50 Fun Facts About Bastille Day

What giant animal did Napoleon plan in bronze for the Bastille site, built only as a plaster model?

An elephant 24 metres tall stood on the square in plaster from 1813 to 1846. Victor Hugo made it the street urchin Gavroche's shelter in Les Misérables.

How many prisoners were actually inside the Bastille when Parisian crowds stormed the fortress in July 1789?

Just 7 prisoners were inside: four men held for faking documents, two judged insane and a count locked up at his own family's request.

What single word did Louis XVI write in his journal for the day the Bastille fell?

Nothing, or Rien in French, was the whole entry. The journal mostly logged hunts and ceremonies, so the word noted a day with no kill, not a verdict on the uprising.

Which American president received the key to the Bastille as a gift from Lafayette?

George Washington showed the key off at official events in New York and Philadelphia, then took it home to Mount Vernon, where it remains on display.

What were the Parisians who attacked the Bastille chiefly hoping to seize from inside the fortress?

Gunpowder was the prize: 250 barrels had just been moved into the Bastille for safekeeping, and the crowd had seized muskets that morning with little to fire them.

The British band Bastille, of Pompeii fame, took its name because Bastille Day is what for singer Dan Smith?

His birthday falls on the French national day, so Dan Smith borrowed its name in 2010 for what began as a solo project before three bandmates joined.

Which French emergency service traditionally throws public dance parties at its stations around Bastille Day?

Firefighters host the bals des pompiers in their own stations on the eve or the night of the holiday. The Paris brigade is an army unit and also marches in the parade.

Which queen's character threw Tastykake snack cakes at the mob in Philadelphia's yearly Bastille Day show?

Marie Antoinette pelted the crowd with the locally made cakes at Eastern State Penitentiary, a former prison that also staged a mock storming each year until 2018.

Which notorious writer was moved out of the Bastille ten days before it fell, after shouting to passers-by?

Marquis de Sade had yelled from his cell that the inmates were being massacred. When the crowd broke in, the belongings he left behind under seal were looted.

Which mysterious prisoner of Louis XIV, later made famous by Alexandre Dumas, died in the Bastille in 1703?

The Man in the Iron Mask was buried under the name Marchioly, which led several historians to identify him as the Italian diplomat Ercole Mattioli.

On which date do the French celebrate their national day, known to English speakers as Bastille Day?

14 July marks both the storming of the fortress in 1789 and a festival of national unity held exactly one year later.

Which famous Paris avenue has hosted the Bastille Day military parade since the end of the First World War?

The Champs-Élysées took over from a racecourse in the Bois de Boulogne with the victory parade of 1919, led by Marshals Joffre, Foch and Pétain.

Which anthem, written in 1792 as a war song for the Army of the Rhine, is played at the Bastille Day parade?

La Marseillaise got its nickname from volunteers from the southern port who sang it as they marched into Paris, though it was written in Strasbourg.

Which Paris landmark is the centrepiece of the capital's Bastille Day fireworks, launched from around its base?

The Eiffel Tower show is fired from the monument itself, from the Pont d'Iéna at its foot and from the Trocadéro across the river.

A stage win on Bastille Day is a special prize for French competitors in which annual sporting event?

The Tour de France runs through July, and French teams often put in extra effort on the holiday. David Moncoutié took the 2005 stage that fell on it, at Digne-les-Bains.

Which American president was so taken with a Bastille Day parade in Paris that he pushed for one of his own?

Donald Trump was Emmanuel Macron's guest in 2017, a century after American troops joined the First World War, and wanted a military parade at home to top it.

Which female figure in a red Phrygian cap personifies the French Republic in town halls and on stamps?

Marianne has stood for liberty since the 1789 uprising, and her profile also appears on French euro coins and the government's official logo.

Which Dickens novel shows wine-shop owners the Defarges helping to lead the storming of the Bastille?

A Tale of Two Cities has Ernest Defarge hurry to search the old cell of Dr Manette, who had been buried alive in the prison for 18 years.

Which French army corps marches last among the foot troops on Bastille Day because of its slower pace?

The Foreign Legion marches at 88 paces a minute against 120 for other French units, so it always brings up the rear of the troops on foot.

Which French regime made Bastille Day an official national holiday in 1880, nearly a century after the storming?

The Third Republic passed the law in July 1880 after weighing rival dates, among them the anniversary of Louis XVI's execution.

Which 1790 festival of national unity, held a year to the day after the storming, does Bastille Day also honour?

The Fête de la Fédération gave the lawmakers of 1880 a bloodless event to celebrate, which eased their doubts about honouring a day of street violence.

At which Paris site did some 260,000 citizens gather in 1790 to mark one year since the Bastille fell?

The Champ de Mars lay far outside the city then, and thousands of Parisians turned up with wheelbarrows to finish levelling the ground in time.

Which bishop of Autun, later Napoleon's foreign minister, said mass at the 1790 festival marking the Bastille's fall?

Talleyrand said the mass in pouring rain, before Lafayette and then Louis XVI swore their oaths to the constitution.

At which Napoleonic monument does the Bastille Day military parade route in Paris begin?

The Arc de Triomphe is where the president arrives with a Republican Guard escort and is told that the troops are ready for inspection.

On which Paris square, at the far end of the route, does the French president watch the Bastille Day parade?

The Place de la Concorde holds the reviewing stand, where the government and foreign ambassadors join the president to watch the troops arrive.

Cadets of which elite school march first among the military academies at the Bastille Day parade in Paris?

École Polytechnique leads by seniority, ahead of the army and naval officer schools, although most of its engineering graduates go on to civilian careers.

In which foreign capital did General de Gaulle review the first Free French Bastille Day parade in 1940?

London saw de Gaulle review the first Free French troops on 14 July 1940, less than a month after his radio appeal to keep fighting.

Which French musician drew a crowd of a million to a Bastille Day concert in Paris in 1979?

Jean-Michel Jarre set an audience record with the open-air show, which became the blueprint for the giant city concerts he later staged around the world.

What kind of building opened on the Place de la Bastille in July 1989, on the eve of the storming's bicentenary?

An opera house designed by Carlos Ott rose where a disused train terminus had stood, and François Mitterrand opened it before 33 foreign leaders.

Which newly created multinational army unit opened the 1994 Bastille Day parade, bringing German soldiers back to Paris?

Eurocorps marched at François Mitterrand's invitation, a gesture meant to show that France and Germany, the two old enemies, were reconciled.

Which Belgian city has celebrated Bastille Day since the First World War, after France decorated it for bravery?

Liège was awarded France's Légion d'Honneur for its unexpected resistance to the German invasion in August 1914, and the city has marked its ally's national day ever since.

Which Indian city, once the chief French settlement in India, marks Bastille Day with great festivity?

Pondicherry grew from a French East India Company trading post set up in 1674, and France handed it over to India only in 1954.

In which country does the wine town of Franschhoek, whose name means French Corner, hold a Bastille Day festival?

South Africa's Franschhoek, in the Western Cape, was settled by French Huguenot refugees who reached the Cape in 1688, which is why its valley still celebrates France's national day.

On which Pacific island did Bastille Day contests in song and dance grow into the Heiva festival?

Tahiti's islanders were allowed sport, singing and dancing contests on only that one day a year under French rule, and the Heiva festival also features canoe races and fire walks.

Which governor of the Bastille, born inside the fortress itself, was killed by the crowd after surrendering it?

Bernard de Launay was the son of an earlier governor and had bought the post in 1776 as an investment, a common practice under the old regime.

From which Paris veterans' home did crowds seize muskets hours before the Bastille fell?

Les Invalides had tens of thousands of muskets stored in its cellars, and the crowd carried them off that morning without meeting serious opposition.

Which popular finance minister's dismissal by Louis XVI, three days before the Bastille fell, set Paris in uproar?

Jacques Necker was a banker seen as sympathetic to the commoners' deputies, and the king announced his recall within days of the storming.

Which journalist leapt onto a café table and urged Parisians to take up arms two days before the Bastille fell?

Camille Desmoulins shed his usual stammer in the excitement, and the crowd first pinned on green leaves from the garden's trees as their badge.

Which writer adopted his famous pen name after eleven months locked in the Bastille for mocking the Regent?

Voltaire, born with the surname Arouet, was sent back to the Bastille in 1726 after challenging a nobleman to a duel, and then left for England.

During which conflict was the Bastille built as a fortress guarding the eastern approach to Paris?

The Hundred Years' War made Charles V fear English attacks from the east, and he chose to live beside his new stronghold for his own safety.

Which 17th-century cardinal is credited with turning the Bastille into a formal state prison for the French crown?

Cardinal Richelieu, chief minister to Louis XIII, put his adviser's brother in charge of it instead of the usual marshal from the aristocracy.

What were the arbitrary royal orders called that could send a French subject to the Bastille without trial?

Lettres de cachet gave no reason for an arrest and could not be appealed. Reforms in the 1780s made them state the offence and the length of detention.

What did contractor Pierre-François Palloy have carved from Bastille stones and sent to the French provinces?

Scale models of the prison went out as gifts at his own expense, alongside souvenirs he sold as relics of freedom. One survives in the Carnavalet Museum.

The July Column on the Place de la Bastille marks the overthrow of which French king, not the 1789 storming?

Charles X fell in the three days of street fighting in July 1830 that give the monument its name, and the remains of 615 victims lie in its foundation.

Which Canadian rock band opened its third album, Caress of Steel, with a song titled Bastille Day?

Rush followed its usual split on the track: Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson wrote the music, and Neil Peart supplied the lyrics.

Which British actor played CIA agent Sean Briar in the 2016 action thriller Bastille Day, set in Paris?

Idris Elba starred opposite Richard Madden as a pickpocket, and the film was retitled The Take for its North American release.

Which word completes France's national motto, shared with Haiti, after liberté and égalité?

Fraternité vanished from the slogan for a time after Robespierre fell, and the three-word motto became official only at the end of the 19th century.

Deputies locked out of their hall at Versailles in June 1789 swore a famous oath in which kind of building?

A tennis court was where they vowed not to separate until the kingdom had a constitution, after finding their usual door guarded by soldiers.

Which founding document did the National Assembly proclaim on 26 August 1789, six weeks after the Bastille fell?

The Declaration of the Rights of Man was first drafted by Lafayette with help from Thomas Jefferson, who was then the American envoy in Paris.

Which assembly, last summoned in 1614, did Louis XVI open at Versailles two months before the Bastille fell?

The Estates General broke apart within weeks, when the commoners' deputies declared themselves the National Assembly of the whole country.