Porte Saint-Denis

Porte Saint-Denis
Porte Saint-Denis (2011).
Location within Paris
General information
Type	Triumphal arch
Location	10th arrondissement, Paris, France
Coordinates	48°52′11″N 2°21′09.49″E / 48.86972°N 2.3526361°E / 48.86972; 2.3526361Coordinates: 48°52′11″N 2°21′09.49″E / 48.86972°N 2.3526361°E / 48.86972; 2.3526361
Construction started	1672
Design and construction
Architect	François Blondel

The Porte Saint-Denis is a Parisian monument located in the 10th arrondissement, at the site of one of the gates of the Wall of Charles V, one of Paris' former city walls. It is located at the crossing of the Rue Saint-Denis continued by the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis, with the Boulevard de Bonne-Nouvelle and the Boulevard Saint-Denis.

The Porte Saint-Denis was originally a gateway through the Wall of Charles V that was built between 1356 and 1383 to protect the Right Bank of Paris. The medieval fortification had two gates and was surmounted with four towers. Additional portcullises defended the outer gate along with a drawbridge and rock-cut ditch. However, with the advent of gunpowder and the development of cannons and bombards, the walls were eventually partly torn down in the 1640s to make way for the larger and more fortified Louis XIII Wall. In the 1670s, the remaining walls of Charles V were entirely demolished when Paris spread beyond the confines of its medieval boundaries.

To replace the old gateway of Porte Saint-Denis, Louis XIV commanded architect François Blondel and the sculptor Michel Anguier to build him a monumental archway that would honor the capture of Franche-Comté in 1668 and the victories on the Rhine during the Franco-Dutch War. Work began in 1672 and was paid for by the city of Paris.

A monument defining the official art of its epoque, the Porte Saint-Denis provided the subject of the engraved frontispiece to Blondel's influential Cours d'architecture, 1698. It was restored in 1988.