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Hotel ATN Paris 21 rue d'Athenes 75009 Paris Tel : + 33 1 48 74 00 55 atn@atnhotel.fr |
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Hotel ATN Paris 21 rue d'Athenes 75009 Paris Tel : + 33 1 48 74 00 55 atn@atnhotel.fr |
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Opera & Place de la Bastille
A fortress in Paris, the Bastille was a symbol of absolutism before
the French Revolution. Begun 1369, it was originally intended to augment
the city's defenses, though by the 17th century it was being used as
a prison. Voltaire and the Marquis de Sade were among its most famous
inmates. Rumor and pamphleteers had for years disseminated a picture
of its dungeons packed with wretched state prisoners. On July 13, 1789,
exhorted "to arms" by a young lawyer, Camille Desmoulins, a mob gathered
outside the Bastille, that frowning fortress whose guns were menacingly
directed on the poor quarter of the Faubourg Saint Antoine which surrounded
it. The frenzied crowd demanded the munitions that were stored within,
while the Governor, the Marquis de Launay, promised not to fire unless
attacked. On the following day, July 14, which marks the beginning of
the French Revolution, the agitated crowd returned and filled the Bastille's
outer courts, which had been left unguarded. |
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