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Place de la Bastille

Place de la Bastille occupies the site of the old Bastille prison, destroyed after its storming on 14 July 1789. In the centre stands the July Column, erected between 1833 and 1840 in memory of the victims of the 1830 Revolution, with the names of 615 dead inscribed on it and crowned by the gilded statue of the Spirit of Liberty. In the pavement, a triple row of cobblestones traces the perimeter of the fortress, and in the Bastille metro station traces of the prison's foundations are preserved. Around it are the Opéra Bastille, the Arsenal marina and the start of the Canal Saint-Martin. The square is a regular setting for concerts, fairs and flea markets, and on Thursdays and Sundays an open-air market is set up on Boulevard Richard-Lenoir. On Sunday afternoons, since 1998, a huge rollerblading outing of about twenty kilometres around Paris sets off from here.

Things to do at Place de la Bastille: 8 missions

• Join the Sunday rollerblading rideEvery Sunday afternoon since 1998, weather permitting, a big rollerblading ride sets off at half past two near the square.
• Discover the remains of a tower in Square Henri-GalliThe undemolished remains of one of the fortress's towers were discovered in 1899 during the metro excavations and are now displayed in Square Henri-Galli, a few hundred metres away.
• See the outline of the fortress in the pavingIn the paving of the square, facing the opera house and on the Canal Saint-Martin side, you can see the outline of the fortress drawn by a triple row of cobblestones.
• Attend concerts in the squareThe square hosts concerts and similar events.
• Explore the big open-air marketOn Thursdays and Sundays, a big open-air market takes up part of the park north of Place de la Bastille, next to Boulevard Richard-Lenoir.
• Enjoy fairs, concerts and flea markets in the squarePlace de la Bastille is a regular venue for various fairs, concerts and flea markets.
• See the fortress's original outline in the pavingLook at the special stones in the paving that mark the fortress's original outline in the streets and paths.
• Contemplate the Colonne de Juillet in the centre of the squareThe Colonne de Juillet, which commemorates the events of the July Revolution of 1830, stands in the centre of the square.

Near Place de la Bastille