Porte du Pré Saint-Gervais de Paris

The Porte du Pré-Saint-Gervais marks a historic threshold in the nineteenth arrondissement, where the city once met the defensive perimeter of the Thiers wall. This gate served as a vital passage through the fortifications that long enclosed Paris, standing along the line of the old ramparts. By the early twentieth century, the area surrounding the gate became a familiar subject for photographers like Eugène Atget, who captured the stark, utilitarian structures of the fort zone and the rugged landscape before the walls were removed.