Twenty years ago, some obsessive-compulsive French creative types decided that they would create a unique kind of park.  A utopia for Lilliputians.  A way for regular folks to feel what it would be like to be Gulliver.  The result was France Miniature, a sprawling place that takes visitors on a meandering stroll across France and 116 of its most famous sites.  At 1/30th the scale.

You’ve always wanted to see St. Tropez?  It’s beautiful.  Check it out below.

How about the chateaux of the Loire Valley?  There are plenty of them, including the Chateau de Chambord, the most famous one of all, painstakingly replicated in an effort that took 2,000 hours.

Feeling the call to get closer to God?  In need of a miracle? No need to go on a crusade.  Just visit France Miniature and go on a miniature pilgrimage to Lourdes.

Always wanted to emulate Superman?  At France Miniature, you’ll be able to prevent a railroad from collapsing.

Not only were the models themselves pretty incredible, but the artists pay attention to every little detail.   The park has the same shape as the map of France and all of the country’s topography is represented to scale.  If a site exists on a hill in the real France, it exists on a hill in the fake France.  If a town is on a river, the river is replicated (and boaters as well).  The trains are where you’d expect to find them.  The cows, too.

More than 20,000 dwarf shrubs accent the miniature monuments and towns.  More than 60,000 little people populate the sites.  And for the reproduction of France’s largest stadium, the Stade de France, more than 50,000 hand painted spectators sit in the stands watching a soccer match.  The “miniature” Eiffel Tower stands 10 meters tall and was placed in its miniature home by helicopter.

It’s the largest miniature park of its type in Europe.  Who’d have ever thought there’d be more than one?