Culture of France

From top, left to right: Oldest patisserie in Paris, Arc de Triomphe, French wines, Liberty Leading the People, Victor Hugo, Camembert, Édith Piaf, The Thinker, Paris Fashion Week, Palme d'Or of Cannes Film Festival, and France national football team

The culture of France has been shaped by geography, by historical events, and by foreign and internal forces and groups. France, and in particular Paris, has played an important role as a center of high culture since the 17th century and from the 19th century on, worldwide. From the late 19th century, France has also played an important role in cinema, fashion, cuisine, literature, technology, the social sciences, and mathematics. The importance of French culture has waxed and waned over the centuries, depending on its economic, political and military importance. French culture today is marked both by great regional and socioeconomic differences and strong unifying tendencies. A global opinion poll for the BBC saw France ranked as the country with the fourth most positive influence in the world (behind Germany, Canada and the UK) in 2014.^[1]

^ "World Service Global Poll: Negative views of Russia on the rise". BBC. 4 June 2014. Retrieved 17 February 2018.

[1] "World Service Global Poll: Negative views of Russia on the rise". BBC. 4 June 2014. Retrieved 17 February 2018.

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