c. 15th millennium BCE★★★★★
Lascaux cave paintings
Upper Palaeolithic people paint hundreds of animal figures on the walls of the Lascaux cave in south-western France, among the best-known works of prehistoric art.
ArtCulture· France
Timeline
5 events150th century BCE
18th century
- 1751★★★★★
First volume of the Encyclopédie
Diderot and d'Alembert publish the first volume of the Encyclopédie, a defining work of the Enlightenment.
CultureScience· France
19th century
- 1822★★★★★
Champollion deciphers Egyptian hieroglyphs
Using the Rosetta Stone, Jean-François Champollion announces his decipherment of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs.
ScienceCulture· France, Egypt - December 28, 1895★★★★★
Lumière brothers' first public film screening
The Lumière brothers hold a paid public film screening at the Grand Café in Paris, often regarded as the birth of cinema.
CultureTechnologyArt· France
20th century
- May 1968 – June 1968★★★★★
May 1968 events in France
Student protests and a nationwide general strike shake France, leaving a lasting mark on its culture and society.
PoliticsCulture· France