The château de Vincennes

Beside Paris’s major eastern park, the Bois de Vincennes with its formal Parc Floral, the Château de Vincennes is the last-remaining French royal medieval residence that has remained pretty well intact. This castle retains its surrounding walls, defensive towers, keep and Sainte-Chapelle decorated with 16th-century stained glass. It served as a headquarters for the French monarchy up to 1682, when Louis XIV shifted his administration to Versailles. Vincennes’s keep, 50m in height, served as a prison from 16th to 19th centuries; notable prisoners included Nicolas de Fouquet (1615-1680), Denis Diderot (1713-1784), Honoré-Gabriel Riquetti de Mirabeau (1749-1791) and the Marquis de Sade (1740-1814). 

Emperor Napoleon I had the castle turned to military uses, ordering barracks and an arsenal. In the 19th century, the fort played its part trying to protect Paris during invasions. Today, the castle still has a protective role, as the seat of France’s Service Historique de la Défense, the military libraries and archives here even accessible to members of the public on occasion.