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Dès le haut Moyen Àge, un système défensif constitué de châteaux forts protège la vallée supérieure de la Saône. L'imposante forteresse de Ray-sur-Saône est l'un de ces lieux stratégiques, mais la guerre de Dix Ans, de 1636 à 1646, contribue à sa destruction. Des quatorze tours de l'enceinte, il n'en reste que deux semicirculaires : la tour Tranchée et la tour du Guet, ainsi qu'une poterne remaniée. Du château médiéval ne subsistent que deux énormes tours, crénelées au XIXe siècle, qui veillent sur l'édifice actuel, édifié en 1775 d'après les plans de l'architecte bisontin Claude-joseph Bertrand. La façade sur la vallée se caractérise par une asymétrie des ouvertures et l'intégration d'une partie des anciens murs, renforçant l'aspect austère. Sur la cour d'honneur, les trois corps de bâtiment forment un plan en U. Le pavillon central est relié par des pans coupés aux ailes latérales terminées par un décrochement. L'avant-corps est souligné par des refends et un fronton triangulaire, d'inspiration classique. Une toiture à la Mansart en petites tuiles couvre l'ensemble.
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France is affectionately referred to as "the Hexagon" for its overall shape.French history goes back to the Gauls, a Celtic tribe which inhabited the area circa 300BC until being conquered by Julius Caesar.The Franks were the first tribe to adopt Catholic Christianity after the Roman Empire collapsed. France became an independent location in the Treaty of Verdun in (843 AD), which divided up Charlemagne's Carolingian Empire into several portions.The French monarchy reached its zenith during the reign of Louis XIV, the Sun King, who stood for seventy-two years as the Monarch of all Monarchs. His palace of Versailles and its Hall of Mirrors are a splendid treasure-trove of Baroque art.The French Revolution ended the rule of the monarchy with the motto "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity!" On July 14th, 1789 angry mobs stormed La Bastille prison and began the Revolution in which Louis XVI, his wife Marie-Antoinette and thousands of others met the guillotine.One decade after the revolution, Napolean Bonaparte seized control of the Republic and named himself Emperor. His armies conquered most of Europe and his Napoleonic Code became a lasting legal foundation for concepts of personal status and property.During the period of colonization France controlled the largest empire in the world, second only to Britain.France is one of the founding members of the European Union and the United Nations, as well as one of the nuclear armed nations of the world.Text by Steve Smith.
