Wall of Philip II Augustus

From the second half of the 16th century, these lands were sold to individuals, and often the cause of the dismantling of large sections of the wall.

The ditches near the Seine were used as open sewers and caused health problems so in the 17th century they were filled and replaced by covered galleries.

The last remaining gates, unsuited to ever-increasing traffic, were razed in the 1680s when the wall became completely invisible.

Near the Seine, Philip Augustus built the Louvre castle with a fortified donjon and ten defensive towers surrounded by a moat.

It was made from two walls of large ashlar-faced limestone blocks, reinforced with an infill of rough-hewn stone rubble and mortar.

[3] Each stood 15 metres high, with a six-metre diameter, and one-metre thick walls.

Four huge bastion towers – 25 metres high with a ten-metre diameter – stood at the points where the wall met the Seine.

At first, they were identical: an ogival gate closed with two wooden panels set into two 15-metre high and eight-metre diameter towers.

The main gates were flanked with towers, and either vaulted or left open to the sky, with gabled roofs and portcullis.