Marianne

Marianne is the national figure of the French Republic. The name Marianne can stand as a metonym for the French nation.

Hitherto only a nation in widespread Name - - In the French Revolution Marianne became a symbol of freedom. In paintings, her head is usually covered with a Phrygian cap, at least one breast uncovered. Famous is the exaltation of the freedom that Eugène Delacroix has painted in the July Revolution of 1830. Marianne adorns the bust practically all French town halls, as a statue many places ( for example, the Place de la Nation and the Place de la République in Paris). On stamps, coins and other objects Marianne symbolizes the French nation. The first written mention of the name Marianne as the name of the French Republic dated October 1792 in Puylaurens in the Tarn department. They sang his time in the Provencal dialect, the song " La garisou de Marianno " (Fr. La guérison de Marianne - " Marianne's recovery " ) by the poet Guillaume Lavabre.

Before the French Revolution France was represented by the king or by the allegory Francia.

The bust of Marianne is changing regularly made ​​new from time to time along the lines of prominent French women and exhibited in the local town hall: