Jardin du port de l'Arsenal

The ground beneath your feet at the Jardin du port de l'Arsenal once served a much darker purpose. In the fourteenth century, this area was part of the deep water-filled ditch that protected the perimeter wall of King Charles the Fifth. When the infamous Bastille fortress was demolished following the French Revolution in seventeen eighty-nine, the remnants of that original moat were excavated and expanded to create the basin you see today.