Porte de Pantin de Paris

The Porte de Pantin serves as a major gateway between Paris and its northeastern suburbs. Long before it became a bustling transport hub, the site was occupied by a toll gate known as the barrière de Pantin. This barrier was part of the Wall of the Farmers-General, an eighteenth-century defensive perimeter built specifically to enforce the collection of excise taxes on goods entering the city. Merchants arriving with products from the surrounding countryside were required to pay the octroi tax before they could proceed into the capital.