The Porte Saint-Antoine was one of the gates of Paris, located at what is now the start of the Rue de la Bastille in the 4th arrondissement. The road was built by the Romans to connect Paris with Meaux and Melun, and King Philip Augustus built a gate 450 meters beyond the current one during the early 13th century; it was demolished in 1382. Etienne Marcel and 54 of his companions were killed at the Porte Saint-Antoine during the Jacquerie rebellion of 1359, and King Charles V of France built the Bastille in 1382 to guard the Porte Saint-Antoine. During the reign of Charles VI of France, the Parisians passed through the gate three times to attack the Hotel Saint-Pol during the civil war between the Armagnac party and the Burgundian party. On 1 June 1540, to honor the entry of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V into Paris, King Francis I of France had the Bastille fire an 800-gun salute. King Henry II of France built a triumphal arch at the Porte Saint-Antoine, and he was killed in a tournament near the gate on 30 June 1559. In 1588, Henry I, Duke of Guise forced the disarmed Swiss Guards to leave via the Porte Saint-Antoine amid the French Wars of Religion, and it was also at the Porte Saint-Antoine that the Catholic League's forces put up their last resistance to King Henry IV of France before he came to power. In 1610, King Louis XIII of France made a ceremonial entry through the gate after his coronation at Reims. On 2 July 1652, Louis, Grand Conde escaped through the Porte Saint-Antoine as Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne's forces pursued him amid the Fronde rebellion. The Porte Saint-Antoine was demolished in 1778, as it no longer had any use as a fortification, and served as a blockage to road traffic; however, the Rue de la Porte Saint-Antoine retained its name.
Gallery[]
