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Le palais des ducs et des États de Bourgogne à Dijon en Côte-d'or est un ensemble architectural comprenant plusieurs parties imbriquées : la plus ancienne est le palais ducal des XIVe siècle et XVe siècle, de style gothique, qui comprend encore un logis (bien visible depuis la place des Ducs), les cuisines ducales (cour de Bar) et deux tours : la tour de la terrasse, ou tour Philippe le Bon et la tour de Bar. La plus grande partie des bâtiments visibles aujourd'hui a cependant été bâtie aux XVIIe et surtout XVIIIe siècles, dans un style classique, avec le dessin de la place royale, aujourd'hui place de la Liberté. Enfin, la façade du musée des Beaux-Arts, sur la place de la Sainte-Chapelle, a été élevée au XIXe siècle à l'emplacement de la Sainte-Chapelle détruite en 1802. Cet ensemble, dans un remarquable état de conservation, témoigne de presque un millénaire de vie politique à Dijon.
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France is affectionately referred to as "the Hexagon" for its overall shape.French history goes back to the Gauls, a Celtic tribe which inhabited the area circa 300BC until being conquered by Julius Caesar.The Franks were the first tribe to adopt Catholic Christianity after the Roman Empire collapsed. France became an independent location in the Treaty of Verdun in (843 AD), which divided up Charlemagne's Carolingian Empire into several portions.The French monarchy reached its zenith during the reign of Louis XIV, the Sun King, who stood for seventy-two years as the Monarch of all Monarchs. His palace of Versailles and its Hall of Mirrors are a splendid treasure-trove of Baroque art.The French Revolution ended the rule of the monarchy with the motto "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity!" On July 14th, 1789 angry mobs stormed La Bastille prison and began the Revolution in which Louis XVI, his wife Marie-Antoinette and thousands of others met the guillotine.One decade after the revolution, Napolean Bonaparte seized control of the Republic and named himself Emperor. His armies conquered most of Europe and his Napoleonic Code became a lasting legal foundation for concepts of personal status and property.During the period of colonization France controlled the largest empire in the world, second only to Britain.France is one of the founding members of the European Union and the United Nations, as well as one of the nuclear armed nations of the world.Text by Steve Smith.