![the french revolutionary calendar the french revolutionary calendar](https://wtffunfact.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/fun-facts-the-french-revolution-calendar-wtf-fun-facts.png)
Leap years in the calendar are a point of great dispute, due to the contradicting statements requiring the year to start at the autumnal equinox while adding a leap day every 4 years (like the Gregorian calendar). Some legal texts that were adopted when the Republican Calendar was official are still in force in France and have kept their original dates for citation purposes.Ĭriticism and shortcomings of the calendar Some enthusiasts in France still use the calendar, more out of historical re-enactment than practicality. Many conversion tables and programs exist, largely created by genealogists. However, it was used again during the brief Paris Commune in 1871 (year LXXIX). Napoléon finally abolished the calendar effective 1 January 1806 (the day after 10 nivôse an XIV), a little over twelve years after its introduction. Sunday or the Sabbath was reintroduced by the Concordat of 1801, effective Easter Sunday, 18 April 1802. Clocks were manufactured to display decimal time, but it did not catch on and was officially abandoned in 1795, although some cities continued to use decimal time as late as 1801. Each day was divided into ten hours, each hour into 100 decimal minutes and each decimal minute had 100 decimal seconds. The five or six extra days needed to approximate the tropical year were placed after the months at the end of each year. There were twelve months, each divided into three ten-day weeks called décades. The first day of each year included the autumnal equinox. As a result, the calendar is based on a date one year before it was actually adopted. Years appear in writing as Roman numerals (usually), counted from the beginning of the 'Republican Era', 22 September 1792 (the day the French First Republic was proclaimed, one day after the Convention abolished the monarchy). The calendar was adopted by the Jacobin-controlled National Convention on 24 October 1793. It was designed by the politician and agronomist Charles Gilbert Romme, although it is usually attributed to Fabre d'Églantine, who invented the names of the months. The clockwork bears the mark of the workshop belonging to one of the most outstanding clockmakers of the period, Abraham Louis Breguet (1747–1823).The French Republican Calendar or French Revolutionary Calendar is a calendar proposed during the French Revolution, and used by the French government for about twelve years from late 1793.
![the french revolutionary calendar the french revolutionary calendar](http://www.webexhibits.org/calendars/imagesFolder/french/decret1.gif)
The crying woman next to the traditional dial represents the Ancien Regime, with the chains of bondage. She is stepping on a many-headed monster wearing a crown and bishop’s mitre. Next to the new calendar we see the well-known allegorical figure of the revolution – known as Marianne – dressed in the colours of the French tricolour and a Phrygian hat. The two female figures, painted in enamel, are symbolic. The dial with traditional names is hanging on a chain from the neck of a crying woman, while the revolutionary one is held by a blue ribbon on the shoulder of a young girl. In the centre, placed one on top of the other, are two dials with the hours indicated 1–10 and I–XII, while on the two sides further dials indicate the days and the months, the traditional names on the left and the French revolutionary ones on the right. Its escapement is provided with spindles, and there are four smaller dials on its round, white-enamelled dial plate. The watch in the clock collection of the Museum of Applied Arts was made using this dual system, and indicates not only the hours, but also the days and months. As the decimal system was only used in France – and only for 13 years – such clocks and watches are today quite rare (some examples are at the Musee Carnavalet, Paris). A number of special pocket watches were made that indicated time not only according to the traditional system but according to the decimal system, too. A new French revolutionary calendar was introduced as was a decimal numerical system to simplify the keeping of time. The great turning point of the 18th century, the French Revolution, also brought about changes for clockmakers.