The Bastille, a 14th-century fortress built to protect the city gates, is the most famous monument in Paris that no longer exists. Nothing remains of the prison it became under Cardinal Richelieu, which was mobbed on 14 July 1789, igniting the French Revolution, but you can’t miss the 52m-high green-bronze column topped by a gilded, winged Liberty. Revolutionaries from the uprising of 1830 are buried beneath. Now a skirmishly busy roundabout, it’s still Paris’ most symbolic destination for political protests.
If you’re interested in finding the Bastille’s one-time foundations, look for a triple row of paving stones that traces the building’s outline on the ground between bd Henri IV and rue St-Antoine. The foundations are also marked below ground in the Bastille metro station, on the platform of line 5.
