Bastille facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Bastille |
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| Paris, France | |
East view of the Bastille, drawing c. 1790
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 Bastille
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| Coordinates | 48°51′12″N 2°22′09″E / 48.85333°N 2.36917°E |
| Type | Medieval fortress, prison |
| Site information | |
| Condition | Destroyed, limited stonework survives |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1370–1380s |
| Built by | Charles V of France |
| Demolished | 1789–90 |
| Events | Hundred Years' War Wars of Religion Fronde French Revolution |
The Bastille was a prison in Paris, France. It was destroyed during the French Revolution on 14 July 1789. It was attacked by rebels from the "third estate" (the people). This event is considered the beginning of the French Revolution. Today in France, the 14 July, Fête Nationale, or Bastille Day, is a national holiday.
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Early history
The Bastille was built during the Hundred Years' War. It was called the Bastion de Saint-Antoine. At first it was just the Saint-Antoine gate, but from 1370–1383, this gate was made bigger and became a fortress. It defended the east end of Paris and the Hôtel Saint-Pol royal palace. After the war, it was turned into a prison. Louis XIII(13) was the first king to send prisoners there.
The Bastille was built in a rectangle shape, 70 meters (220 ft) long and 30 meters (90 ft) wide. It had eight towers and walls 25 meters (80 ft) high, with a wide moat going around the outside. There were two courtyards inside and houses against the walls. Pairs of towers on the east and west sides had gates through which the rue Saint-Antoine passed. In the 1400s, these were blocked up, and a new city gate was built to the north on the present day rue de la Bastille. A bastion on the eastern side was built later. The walls and towers were of the same height and width and joined by a broad path. Soldiers on the wall could move quickly to any part of the fortress without having to climb down inside the towers. It also meant that there was enough room for placing artillery. A similar design can be seen today at Château de Tarascon.
Storming the Bastille
As a prison, the Bastille held common criminals such as forgers and thieves, as well as people put in prison for religious reasons, such as the Huguenots. There were also people who had for printed or written things against the government or the King. People of high rank were sometimes held there too. The prison, which could only hold about 50 prisoners, was not as bad most of the prisons in Paris. But secrecy about the prison and its prisoners gave it an evil reputation.
The people of Paris attacked the Bastille on 14 July 1789, following several days of protests. They were after the gunpowder and weapons that were kept at the prison. They were not attacking the Bastille to free the seven prisoners inside. The prison was guarded by about 80 invalides (old soldiers) led by Governor Bernard-René de Launay. There was also an extra group of 32 grenadiers from one of the Swiss mercenary regiments brought to Paris by the King shortly before 14 July.
A crowd of around 8,000 men and women were outside the Bastille by mid-morning. They wanted the guards to give up the prison, remove the artillery guns, and give them the gunpowder and weapons. Two people chosen to represent those outside were invited into the fortress to talk with the Governor.
At about 1:00pm, the crowd broke into the undefended outer courtyard and the chains on the drawbridge to the inner courtyard were cut. There was some gunfire, but by mid-afternoon the crowd was supported by mutinous Gardes Françaises of the Royal Army and two cannons. De Launay ordered his guards to stop shooting and he gave up the fortress. The crowd swept into the Bastille at about 5.30pm.
The crowd took the weapons, gunpowder, and freed the seven prisoners. They had to break down the doors because the keys had already been taken and shown in the streets. Even though they had surrendered, the Governor and some of the guards of the Bastille were killed. Their heads were cut off, stuck onto long poles, and marched through the streets.
Pulling down the Bastille
The propaganda value of the Bastille was quickly seen by Pierre-François Palloy, "Patriote Palloy". He got together a group of men to begin pulling down the fortress by the next day. People paid him to view the site and he sold off pieces as souvenirs. By November, 1789, the Bastille was largely pulled down. The cut stones of the fortress were used to build the Pont de la Concorde (Paris).
The area today
The site of the Bastille is now called the Place de la Bastille. It is home to the Opéra Bastille. The large moat behind the fort has been turned into a marina for boats, the Bassin de l'Arsenal. To the north, a covered canal, the Canal Saint Martin, goes under the road along the edge of the site.
The remains of one tower of the fort were found during digging for the Métro (rail mass-transit system) in 1899. These were moved to a park, the Square Henri-Galli, a few hundred meters away. The outline of the fort is also marked on the streets and sidewalks with special paving stones. A cafe and some other businesses are now on the site of the fort, and the rue Saint Antoine passes directly over it as it opens onto the roundabout of the Bastille.
In popular culture
- Comte de Rochefort (The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After)
- Alexandre Manette (A Tale of Two Cities)
- M. Thénardier (Les Misérables)
- Several works about the Man with the iron mask
Related pages
Images for kids
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Historical reconstruction showing the moat below the walls of Paris (left), the Bastille and the Porte Saint-Antoine (right) in 1420
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Parisian defences in 14th century: A – Louvre; B – Palais de Roi; C – Hôtel des Tournelles; D – Porte Saint-Antoine; E – Hôtel St Paul; F – the Bastille
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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
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The Bastille in 1647, illustrating the bastion, the stone abutment linking to the fortress and the new southern entrance built during the 1550s
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A contemporary depiction of the battle of the Faubourg St Antoine beneath the walls of the Bastille in 1652
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The Bastille and the eastern side of Paris in 1649
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The Bastille and Porte Saint-Antoine from the north-east, 1715–19
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The Bastille in 1734, showing the Louis XIV boulevard and the growing "faubourg" beyond the Porte Saint-Antoine
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A cross-section of the Bastille viewed from the south in 1750
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Plan of the Bastille in the 18th century. A – La Chapelle Tower; B – Trésor Tower; C – Comté Tower; D – Bazinière Tower; E – Bertaudière Tower; F – Liberté Tower; G – Puits Tower; H – Coin Tower; I – Courtyard of the Well; J – Office wing; K – Large Courtyard
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Jansenist convulsionnaires exercising in the outer court
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The Bastille and the Porte Saint-Antoine, seen from the east
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A sketch of the main courtyard in 1785
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Dragons destroy the Bastille on the title page of Bucquoy's Die Bastille oder die Hölle der Lebenden.
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Linguet's Mémoires sur la Bastille, depicting the fictional destruction of the Bastille by Louis XVI
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An eye witness painting of the siege of the Bastille by Claude Cholat
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A plan of the Bastille and surrounding buildings made immediately after 1789; the red dot marks the perspective of Claude Cholat's painting of the siege.
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The demolition of the walls of the Bastille, July 1789
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The foundations of the Liberté Tower of the Bastille, rediscovered during excavations for the Métro in 1899
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Journal of Antoine-Jérôme de Losme, the Bastille major, describing the days before the fall of the Bastille in 1789
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See also
In Spanish: Bastilla para niños
