the church of Saint-Pierre, consists of a Romanesque building dating from the thirteenth century orignel which was enlarged in the early seventeenth century by a Gothic building. Its location, it has an extraordinary view over the harbors of Toulon and Sanary. This church belonged to the abbey long Montmajour, then went to the monastery of Saint Victor of Marseilles. It shows a dozen paintings, including a triptych, a magnificent polyptych attributed to Louis Brea and a "Descent from the Cross" of the Flemish school (late sixteenth century). It also houses several statues, including a beautiful statue of the Virgin (but falsely attributed to Pierre Puget). The church is the subject of a dispute following the historiographical work of the Abbot Garrel in the nineteenth century, who made false entries and falsified charters of the cartulary of Saint-Victor. These fakes are behind local legends and traditions who want the church was built on an early church of the fifth or sixth century, itself sitting on the ruins of a Greco-Roman temple (just as the chapel of Pépiole). The work of the Archaeological Centre of Var have shown these untruths, despite opposition from the mayor of Six-Fours-les-Beaches (see Bibliography. Book Heritage West Varois No. 11 (2007) and No. 13 (2010)).
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.