La Bastille was a prison once called Bastille Saint-Antoine as it was on Rue Saint-Antoine. On 14th July, 1789, La Bastille was stormed by the peasants, marking the start of the French Revolution and that momentous event is celebrated as a public holiday in France.

The word ‘Bastille’ derives from the French word ‘bastide’ which means stronghold or castle. The Bastille was built in the last quarter of the 14th century during the reign of King Charles VI and during the Hundred Years War with England.

La Bastille had five storeys and the exterior walls were four and a half metres thick. There used to be three entrances to the fortification but from 1580, the drawbridge over the moat was the only way in and out.

It was Cardinal Richelieu in the first half of the seventeenth century who turned the Royal fortification into a prison for the upper classes, for people who had committed treason or some offence against King Louis XIII or the state. Once established as a prison, it became a convenient place in which to incarcerate religious prisoners, writers who perpetrated seditious acts, and young men who had been caught with the wrong man’s wife.

Very soon La Bastille became a symbol of fear wielded by the crown and state against the ordinary people, although the prison cells were actually not dungeons but rooms fit for “gentlemen”. Prisoners were able to be incarcerated with their own furniture, clothes, books and servants and they could entertain visitors. However, during the reign of Louis XV (1715 – 1774), La Bastille was home to more common prisoners and the conditions were much harsher.

Famous prisoners kept in La Bastille include the Marquis de Sade who was transferred to a lunatic asylum ten days before La Bastille was stormed. Once the French Revolution was underway, the rioters took it upon themselves to tear down the building and now there are only a few remaining stones visible on Boulevard Henri IV.

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