Storming of the Bastille Tea Towel

The image is based on a watercolour by French artist Jean-Pierre Houël ‘Storming of the Bastille’.

This was an event that occurred in Paris, France  on the afternoon of 14 July 1789, when revolutionaries stormed and seized control of the medieval armoury, fortress and political prison known as the Bastille. At the time, the Bastille represented royal authority and tyranny in the centre of Paris. The prison contained only seven inmates at the time of its storming, but was seen by the revolutionaries as a symbol of the monarchy's abuse of power; its fall was the flashpoint of the French Revolution which eventually led to the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of the First French Republic. 

Many of its ideas are considered fundamental principles of liberal democracy,  while phrases like "liberté,égalité, fraternité" reappeared in other revolts, such as the 1917 Russian Revolution, and inspired campaigns for the abolition of slavery and universal suffrage. The values and institutions it created dominate French politics to this day.

Historian François Aulard writes:

"From the social point of view, the Revolution consisted in the suppression of what was called the feudal system, in the emancipation of the individual, in greater division of landed property, the abolition of the privileges of noble birth, the establishment of equality, the simplification of life.... The French Revolution differed from other revolutions in being not merely national, for it aimed at benefiting all humanity."