The Bastille was a fortress and prison located on the Rue Saint-Antoine in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, France, at the site of the present-day Place de la Bastille. King Charles V of France ordered the construction of the Bastille in 1367 to secure the road linking the King's residence of the Hotel Saint-Pol to the Chateau de Vincennes, and it was built from 1370 to 1383. It initially served as a castle and arsenal, and the Bastille surrendered to the Armagnac party in 1413 during the Hundred Years' War, to the Burgundian party in 1418, to the King in 1436, to the House of Condé in 1565, to the Catholic League in 1591, to King Henry IV of France in 1594, and in 1649 and 1652 during the Fronde. King Louis XI of France occasionally used the Bastille as a prison during the late 15th century, and King Francis I of France used the Bastille as an arms warehouse and reception area, the Bastille returned to service as a prison during the French Wars of Religion, and King Henry IV of France took the Bastille after a siege from 22-26 March 1594 at the end of the Wars of Religion and transformed it into a treasury. On 18 September 1698, the Man in the Iron Mask was imprisoned at the Bastille, where he died on 19 November 1703. The Bastille was a comfortable prison for the nobility, who were allowed to correspond with the outside, receive visitors, and travel freely through the prison. On 17 May 1717, the 22-year-old Voltaire was imprisoned at the Bastille for his criticisms of the nobility; from 1784 to 1789, the Marquis de Sade was also imprisoned at the Bastille. By then, the Bastille had come to serve as a prison for commoners, who slept on straw beds and subsisted on bread. From 1661 to 1789, one in six of the Bastille's prisoners were imprisoned forf "libel"; most of them were victims of censorship. On 14 July 1789, at the start of the French Revolution, a Parisian mob seeking arms and ammunition stormed the Bastille, which was defended by 32 Swiss Guards and 82 invalidated soldiers. The Storming of the Bastille was first commemorated with the Fete de la Federation holiday in 1790, and "Bastille Day" is still a national holiday in France. The prison was demolished from 15 July 1789 to 1806, with stones being sold as souvenirs. The Marquis de Lafayette gifted one of the prison's keys to George Washington, and the keys are still housed at Mount Vernon. In 1899, during the construction of Line 1 of the Paris Metro, remains of the fortress were rediscovered, and they were moved to the Square Henri-Galli.
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