The 14th of July, 1789 – the Bastille falls to the people of Paris. There were only seven inmates inside at the time. Two days later, on the 16th of July, the entire building was destroyed as a symbol of arbitrary justice and royal authority. In the end, most of the stones recovered from the building would go on to be used in the construction of Pont de la Concorde in the west of the city. The prison’s ironwork and wooden interiors were sold as cult objects, while the French state sold off its infamous keys to different foreign dignitaries.
Capitalising on the vogue for Bastille remnants, the entrepreneur Palloy (who was in charge of the demolition work) carved many of its stones into miniature models of the fortress, and sold them as souvenirs in the provinces. He also presented one to each administrative locality of the department. Having been razed to the ground, it might be supposed that there is nothing left of the Bastille today, but this is not the entirely the case…
Firstly, if you look down at the paving stones of the square, around about Boulevard Henri IV, you will notice differently coloured cobbles, which mark out the original position of three of the Bastille’s towers. Meanwhile, on the platform of metro line 5, at the Bastille stop, you can see a considerable vestige of the defensive wall. Finally, the foundations of the ‘Tour de la Liberté’, rediscovered during the construction of metro line 1, were removed to the park of Henri Gallo, just in front of metro Sully Morland, where you can still find them today.
(translation – Tim Mc Inerney)