Summary

The Bastille was a fortress in Paris, known formally 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, and was later demolished and replaced by the Place de la Bastille.

Evelyn describes the Bastille on 8 February 1644 as:

“… the fortress, tower, and magazine of this great city. It is very spacious within, and there the Grand Master of the artillery has his house, with fair gardens and walks.”

Map

[google-map-v3 shortcodeid=”f8e652273c” width=”95%” height=”350″ zoom=”12″ maptype=”roadmap” mapalign=”center” directionhint=”false” language=”default” poweredby=”false” maptypecontrol=”true” pancontrol=”true” zoomcontrol=”true” scalecontrol=”true” streetviewcontrol=”true” scrollwheelcontrol=”false” draggable=”true” tiltfourtyfive=”false” enablegeolocationmarker=”false” enablemarkerclustering=”false” addmarkermashup=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkerlist=”Place de la Bastille, paris{}1-default.png{}Location of the Bastille” bubbleautopan=”true” distanceunits=”miles” showbike=”false” showtraffic=”false” showpanoramio=”false”]

Referring entries


Referring entries


Further reading

Sources

  • Wikipedia for background.