Bastille Day is a national holiday celebrated in France every year on July 14th.
In France the celebration is commonly known as Fête de la Fédération. The first Fête de la Fédération was held on July 14, 1790, and was a celebration to commemorate the first anniversary of the Storming of the Bastille (a prison fortress the people of Paris stormed to gain ammunition and gunpowder to defend themselves against the royal army) and the unity of the French Nation during the French Revolution.
The Bastille Day Military Parade has been held on July 14th each year in Paris since 1880. The parade passes down the Champs-Élysées from the Arc de Triomphe to the Place de la Concorde.
It’s really something to see, and I’m happy I was lucky enough to enjoy the celebrations of Bastille Day in Paris.
Check out a short video and photos of the parade below.
I got to watch the parade in front of the La Madeleine, a Roman Catholic church that was designed as a temple to the glory of Napoleon’s army. The building is gorgeous with its classic Greek architecture. You can see it in more detail in the video above.
Service dogs … my favorite part of the parade.
At the end of the procession, military tanks came roaring down the street.
