No rides, but lots of rows: ‘reactionary’ French theme park plots expansion

Puy du Fou has built its success on swashbuckling re-enactment shows. Is it changing how French people think about history?

Outside a castle, stunt riders were hanging upside down from galloping horses, jousters were charging, Joan of Arc was dressed in armour and invoking her faith to fight the English, flames shot from windows, soldiers dangled from ropes and the audience cheered and booed.

“It’s about our history of France, but it’s also an entertaining fantasy,” said Eliane, a nurse from the south-west who was on her second annual coach trip to the French theme park Puy du Fou. “You don’t come here for pure history, it’s not a lesson, there’s something magic about it,” she said.

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