Porte Saint-Denis

rue Saint-Denis and boulevard Saint-Denis, 2e/3e/10e

“The fact that they were recently part of the wall surrounding Paris . . . gives these vessels, as if carried away by the centrifugal force of the city, an aspect which is completely boundless."

Breton described Porte Saint-Denis as « very beautiful and very useless. » It was built in 1672 as a symbol of the door in the outer wall of Charles V’s castle. A celebration of French victories, it was the entryway for royalty.

“Yielding to the attraction that the Saint-Denis neighborhood has had on me for so many years—an attraction I understand only in terms of the isolation of two gates one comes across and that undoubtedly owe their moving quality to the fact that they were recently part of the wall surrounding Paris, which gives these vessels, as if carried away by the centrifugal force of the city, an aspect which is completely boundless, which I find elsewhere only in the brilliant Tour Saint-Jacques—I wandered around rue de Paradis for around six hours.” –André Breton, Communicating Vessels (1932)

Château d'Eau