Louvre Castle

You have never seen it. You haven’t queued for tickets, and you haven’t been inside to see the Mona Lisa. I know you haven’t because le château du Louvre is not what you think it is. It is not the giant palace in the center of Paris housing one of the most famous museums in the world. That would be the Louvre Palace, le palais du Louvre.

Nit-picking, you say? Tell that to King Philippe-Auguste (reign: 1180-1223) who had the château du Louvre (the Louvre Castle) built to reinforce the wall he had built around the city.

Location of the Château du Louvre and the Philippe Auguste city wall (in brown) on a map of Paris

The château du Louvre was built near the river at the western end of the city, where the risk of an attack was highest as the English occupied Normandy less than 100km away. Philippe Auguste also wanted a safe place for his treasure and for his archives which had been lost in a battle with Richard Lionheart but since been reconstituted. The château du Louvre was roughly square with a moat surrounding it and a round keep at the center.

model of the château du Louvre at the Louvre Museum

At the time of King Charles V (reign: 1364-1380), Paris had spread past the old city wall, and Charles V had a new wall built. The château du Louvre lost most of its military significance, and the king could sacrifice some of the protective building aspects to make it more habitable while still providing a safe place for the king, notably after the revolt of 1358 led by the Prévôt des Marchands Étienne Marcel.

During the Hundred Years War, the English under King Henry V were allied with the Burgundians who held Paris, so the English could enter the city and occupied the château du Louvre without a fight. They stayed from 1420 to 1436.

Successive French kings demolished the château little by little and built new structures on top. During works in the 19^th century, it was discovered that the foundations of the château du Louvre hadn’t been destroyed completely. The basis of the keep and two walls were cleared during the works for President François Mitterrand’s Grand Louvre project, and can be seen today during a visit of the Palais du Louvre’s famous museum, the Musée du Louvre.

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In Gallo-Roman times, the population of Lutetia lived mostly on Cité Island and the south shore. There are still some remains to be seen today that will be the subject of a later blog post.

Philippe Auguste was king from 1180 to 1223 CE. He stands out among medieval kings of France for his long reign, his important military victories and his measures to reinforce the power of the king and put an end to feudalism.

He built the city wall that bears his name to defend Paris against attacks from the English Plantagenet dynasty in particular, coming from the north and the east. It was a simple wall 5km long with 77 towers.

Later he also built a second portion of the wall on the left bank, after Normandy fell into the hands of the Plantagenet, and an attack from the north-west had to be envisioned.

In order to protect Paris against invaders coming up the Seine river, Philippe Auguste had a fortress built, the Louvre Castle. (It was later demolished to make way for the Louvre Palace, but that’s a subject for another post.)

Mayken Brünings

Writing Middle Grade fiction in Paris

Tag Archives: Louvre Castle

Le Château du Louvre

The Philippe Auguste Wall