Square de la Roquette

Square de la Roquette is defined by two stone guardhouses that remain at its entrance on Rue de la Roquette. These small, weathered structures are the primary remnants of the Petite-Roquette prison, which stood on this site from eighteen thirty-six until its demolition in nineteen seventy-four. The garden that now covers these four and a half acres holds lawns, a fountain, and playgrounds where a panopticon-style penitentiary once held juvenile offenders, women, and political prisoners during the Nazi occupation.