Bastille Day is celebrated today in France with the oldest and largest military parade in Europe, on the Champs-Elysées avenue in Paris, in front of the President of the French Republic, French officials and foreign guests.

France’s national holiday – also called Bastille Day – is celebrated on July 14.

It was established as an annual national holiday in July 1880 to commemorate the fall of the Bastille on 14 July 1789, a turning point in the French Revolution and a symbol of the end of absolute monarchy, and the celebration of Confederation on 14 July 1790, a symbol of the nation’s unification.