Square Courteline

Square Courteline sits on the former site of the Barriere de Saint-Mande. This was once a collection point for the city wall known as the Wall of the Farmers-General, a massive barrier built in the seventeen eighties to collect taxes on goods entering Paris. During the violent upheaval of the French Revolution, the location took on a grim significance as it served as a transit point for the bodies of those executed at the nearby Place de la Nation.