Porte Saint-Antoine

The Porte Saint-Antoine was a fortified city gate that once controlled the eastern entrance to Paris. You can pinpoint its former site today near the start of the Rue de la Bastille, close to the Place de la Bastille. Constructed as part of the defensive walls commissioned by King Charles the Fifth in the fourteenth century, the gate was flanked by towers and guarded by the nearby Bastille fortress. It served as a primary point of transit for those traveling into the capital from the east.