Place De La Bastille Paris

Rue St Antoine ends here, in this square famous for its memories of the Revolution. Here stood the massive fortress built under Charles V between 1370 and 1382. It later became a State prison in which, among others, the mysterious figure who became known as the Man in the Iron Mask was held. The ill famed prison was thus the first and most important objective of the popular uprising which broke out on 14 July 1789, when 7000 enraged Parisians marched against what was considered the symbol of the monarchy's despotism. The Bastille, held by its governor De Launay with only 32 Swiss guards and 82 invalids, soon fell into the people's hands, and the governor was put to death and the prisoners (only seven) freed. The next day the demolition of the prison began, lasting until the following year. When the demolition was completed, the people danced on what had been the foundations of the terrible Bastille. Today there are lines on the paving stones of the square marking' the outlines of the former fortress. In the centre of the square is the July Column, built between 1831 and 1840 in memory of the Parisians killed in July 1830. Their bodies, together with those who died in February 1848, are enclosed in the marble base, and their names are engraved on the shaft of the column. At the top of the column (which can be climbed via a stairway with 238 steps), 171 feet high, is the figure of Liberty and a platform commanding a splendid view of the Marais quarter, the Ile de la Cite and the Ste Genevieve Hill.





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