The Place de la Bastille is a square in Paris where the Bastille prison once stood, until the storming of the Bastille and its subsequent physical destruction between 14 July 1789 and 14 July 1790 during the French Revolution. No vestige of the prison remains.
The July Column, with the new pedestrian area at the south side (after the removal of the large road in 2019-2021)
"Prise de la Bastille" (1789), by Jean-Pierre-Louis-Laurent Houel
Siderograph (steel engraving) of the full-scale elephant to be built, by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin, 1830
Now with a pedestrian space at the south side of the monument
The Bastille was a fortress in Paris, known as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. It was stormed by a crowd on 14 July 1789, in the French Revolution, becoming an important symbol for the French Republican movement. It was later demolished and replaced by the Place de la Bastille.
East view of the Bastille, drawing c. 1790
Historical reconstruction showing the moat below the walls of Paris (left), the Bastille and the Porte Saint-Antoine (right) in 1420
A 1750 plan of the Bastille's eight medieval towers showing the calottes in the roofs and the infamous cachots within the foundations
A depiction of the Bastille and neighbouring Paris in 1575, showing the new bastions, the new Porte Saint-Antoine, the Arsenal complex and the open countryside beyond the city defences
