User:Pahpaha/Culture

Culture

France has been a center of cultural creation for centuries. Many French artists have been among the most renowned of their time, and France is still much recognized and admired in the world for its very rich cultural tradition.

The successive political regimes have always promoted artistic creation, and the creation of the Ministry of Culture in 1959 helped preserve the cultural heritage of the country and make it available to public. The Ministry of Culture has been very active since its creation, granting subsidies to artists, promoting French culture in the world, supporting festivals and cultural events, protecting historical monuments. The French government also succeeded in maintaining a cultural exception to defend audiovisual products made in the country.

France is the country that receive the highest number of tourists per year, largely thanks to the numerous cultural establishments and historical buildings implanted all over the territory. It counts 1,200 museums welcoming more than 50 million people annually. The most important cultural sites are run by the government, for instance through the public agency Centre des monuments nationaux, which have around hundred national historical monuments at charge. On the 43,180 buildings protected as historical monuments, 50% are of private ownership, 43% are owned by communes and cities, and 4% by the government. These monuments include mainly residences (many castles, or ("châteaux" in French) and religious buildings (cathedrals, basilicas, churches, etc)), but also statutes, memorials and gardens.

Arts

Painting

RFI, Le néo-impressionnisme de Seurat à Paul Klee 15/03/2005
Musée d'Orsay official websiteHistory of the painting collection

Architecture

Literature

French comics are also a notable French production, considered as a distinct art. Famous French comics writers and artists include René Goscinny, Moebius and Enki Bilal. Some series as Asterix, Valérian and Laureline, Michel Vaillant and Blueberry have reached great popularity among local fans and abroad. Comics books make up 10% of total book sales in France.

Music

Cinema

Sports

Society and reputation

Media and communication

Television in France, Books, newspapers and magazines

Language

After having been a influential language for centuries, being used for instance in diplomacy, the French has suffered from the increasing use of English in the world. However, the French language is still spoken in most former French colonies, but it is also learned in other countries. The Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), created by the French government and now supported by the United Nations and the UNESCO, is the organization responsible for the promotion of the French language in its 55 member countries and in the world. Beside its 55 official members, the OIF has two associate countries and 13 observers countries. In France the language is regulated by the Académie Française, founded in 1635.