La Rotonde du Parc Monceau

You are approaching a structure that stands as a neoclassical sentinel at the edge of the park. Known as the Rotonde du Parc Monceau, this building was designed by the architect Claude-Nicolas Ledoux in the late eighteenth century. While it serves as an elegant gateway to the park today, it was originally built for a far less hospitable purpose. It functioned as a toll booth for the Wall of the Farmers-General, a massive perimeter constructed to force merchants to pay taxes on goods like wine, wood, and meat entering the city. The presence of this building reminds visitors of a time when the authorities literally walled off Paris to capture revenue from every citizen.