Porte d'Ivry

The name Porte d Ivry marks a location that once served as a literal gateway into the city of Paris. In the nineteenth century, the French government constructed the Thiers Wall, a massive defensive ring encircling the capital to protect it from invasion. This gate was a controlled entry point on the road leading south to the town of Ivry-sur-Seine. Today, while the walls are long gone, the name persists as a navigational anchor in the thirteenth arrondissement, reminding those who pass through that they are crossing what was once the fortified edge of the city.