Pictures of Bastille Day in Paris

By Courtney Traub, About.com Guide

Bastille Day, also known in French as "La Fête Nationale", falls every 14th of July, marking a day of colorful celebrations, but also a solemn remembrance of the French citizens who fought for the establishment of a democratic Republic starting in the late 18th century. The 1789 storming of the Bastille prison was the watershed moment of public disobedience that has become the traditional symbol of the beginning of the first French Revolution (and also gave Bastille Day its name). Click through the gallery of Bastille Day pictures to get a sense of how the day has been celebrated in the past, as well as the traditions carried on today.

NEXT: The Storming of the Bastille

More: Guide to Bastille Day in Paris

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• In Pictures: Bastille Day, Past and Present
• History of Bastille Day: The Storming of the Bastille
• Bastille Day Fireworks in 1935
• Feting Bastille Day in Cherbourg, 1944 (Before Paris' Liberation)
• Air Demonstration Over Concorde
• Traditional Military Parade on the Champs-Elysées

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