La force prison

The former La Force prison in Paris's 4th arrondissement began as a city mansion built in the 16th century by René de Birague. Over the centuries it changed hands several times before taking its final name under the Duke of La Force. After the building was divided in 1698 and altered in various ways, the property passed to Louis XVI in 1780, who converted it into a prison for men and women. The complex served as a place of detention until it closed in 1845 and was the scene of dramatic historical events at various times. During the French Revolution, on the day the Bastille was stormed, Parisians first freed the debtors imprisoned there. Later, especially during the Reign of Terror, La Force became a site of political imprisonment and was part of the September Massacres, in which numerous prisoners were murdered. The prison remained in operation under the Consulate and the Empire as well, and contemporary accounts describe a spacious courtyard with trees and a mixed prison population.

The list of inmates includes a remarkable mix of political figures, artists, and scientists. Well-known prisoners included the astronomer and first mayor of Paris Jean-Sylvain Bailly, the mathematician Évariste Galois, the revolutionary Auguste Blanqui, and the writer Pierre-Ambroise-François Choderlos de Laclos. The Princess of Savoy, Madame de Lamballe, and the architect Claude-Nicolas Ledoux also spent time within the walls of La Force. The prison also found its way into world literature. Authors such as Alexandre Dumas, Honoré de Balzac, Charles Dickens, and Victor Hugo drew on the atmosphere and conditions of the prison in their novels, with Hugo describing the dilapidated state of the so-called Bâtiment-Neuf in particularly vivid detail.

After its closure in 1845, the building was demolished because of its dilapidated and unsanitary condition. Today only a section of wall on the Rue Malher, adjoining the Historical Library of the City of Paris and protected as a historic monument, recalls the former complex. A commemorative plaque tells visitors about the history of the site. In addition, a walled-up window with a grille has survived in the courtyard of the fire station on the Rue Madame de Sévigné; these are considered the last physical remnants of this historic prison.