Bastille

Bastille, officially the Bastille Saint-Antoine, was a fortress and state prison in Paris built in the late 14th century to defend the eastern approaches to the city and to imprison important prisoners of the state. Construction began around 1370 and the fortress was expanded in subsequent centuries, eventually comprising multiple towers and a surrounding wall enclosing a large courtyard. While intended as a military stronghold, the Bastille became a symbol of royal authority and arbitrary confinement, holding a variety of detainees, from political prisoners to common criminals.

During the 17th and 18th centuries the Bastille gained notoriety as a place where dissenters and those accused of opposing the monarchy could be detained without trial. Its reputation for secrecy and harsh conditions contributed to its emblematic status as a symbol of oppression in the eyes of many, even as it functioned within the administrative framework of the Ancien Régime.

The Bastille is most famous for its storming by an angry crowd on July 14, 1789, amid the early stages of the French Revolution. The assault became a powerful symbol of popular sovereignty and the questioning of state authority, and the event is commemorated annually as Bastille Day in France. In the aftermath, the fortress was largely demolished; by 1790 the site had been cleared and the Place de la Bastille laid out, later formalized by the erection of the Colonne de Juillet in 1833 to commemorate the July Revolution.

Today, the name Bastille persists as a geographical district around the former site, and the Opéra Bastille, opened in 1989, stands nearby as a major national opera house. The term also appears in broader cultural contexts as a symbol of tyranny or revolutionary spirit.