Do you know, where is the Bastille? (7 photos)

Yes, yes! That very same Parisian Bastille. Have you seen it in Paris? Is it well preserved?

Remember from "Yeralash" -

- Vovochka, who took the Bastille!?

- No, I didn't take it, Olga Petrovna!

And I'll show you where the Bastille is in Paris now. Here it is.

This is what it looked like initially:







How it was:

Around five in the evening, the Bastille fell into the hands of the rebels, who were in for a disappointment. Only seven people were found in the Bastille cells, none of whom could be called "victims of the regime" - four counterfeiters, two mentally ill people, and one criminal murderer. Even the legendary Marquis de Sade had been transferred from the Bastille to a psychiatric clinic by that time.

Nevertheless, all the Bastille prisoners found in the cells were freed by the revolutionaries.

After that, the castle was looted. Historians to this day regret the rich archive of Bastille documents, which were mostly destroyed during the capture of the fortress.

Then what happened to the Bastille exactly two centuries later happened to the Berlin Wall. The Parisian municipality decided to immediately destroy it on a voluntary basis, and the very next day, Parisians with improvised tools and joy on their faces went out to smash the 14th century architectural monument. Since there was no "Archnadzor" movement in Paris at the time, there was no one to stop the vandalism.

The process of destruction lasted for two years, but the deed was done - there was no trace left of the Bastille. Broken bricks from the castle walls were used as souvenirs, which were sold to anyone for a long time.

For a long time, the site of the Bastille was a vacant lot, the only color added to it by the inscription "Here they dance". However, France, shaken by revolutionary upheavals, had no time for dancing for a long time.

In 1841 it looked like this:





An elephant's butt is visible in the engraving from 1841

In 1878 it looked like this:



And now here like this:



Moreover, the monument on the square is in no way connected with the Bastille. The idea of ​​building a column on the new square formed after the destruction of the Bastille arose back in 1792. Bonaparte, then still a general, proposed building a fountain in the form of a colossal elephant with a tower on this site, and for some time there actually stood a wooden model of this monument, immortalized by Victor Hugo in the novel Les Miserables.



But it was only in 1833 that Louis Philippe ordered the construction of a memorial column. The project was carried out by the architect Jean-Antoine Alavoine, the construction and decoration were carried out by Louis Duc. The round pedestal of the column is an unrealized fountain with an elephant. The grand opening of the July Column took place in 1840.

At the top of the bronze column is a gilded "Genius of Liberty" by Auguste Dumont, and at the base are bas-reliefs by Bari.

A memorial plaque is attached to the bottom of the column:

To the glory of the French citizens who fought with arms in their hands to defend civil liberties on the memorable days of July 27, 28, 29, 1830.

Here is the place where the famous Bastille was located.



Here is the site of the Bastille