"Philippe-Auguste Wall (l'Enceinte): Part I" Top 5 Page for this destination Walking Around Tip by BeatChick

VTers, shrimp56, Tsarina & I took a tour with Michale Osman of the Philippe-Auguste wall. This wall was built by Philippe-Auguste (King Philippe II), Capetian king from 1180-1223, as a fortification to protect the Paris while he was away on his 3rd Crusade.

Photos:
1) We began our walk in the 6th arrondissement at the Institut de France where we found a plaque for the Tour de Nesle (circa 1200) on the side of the building on the Quai de Conti.

2) The Histoire de Paris explains this is the first component of the Philippe-Auguste wall on Left Bank built about 1200, named for Phillipe Hamelin who chaired its construction. It then became part of the Hôtel de Nesle, built about 1270 on the field of Laas and acquired by Philippe le Bel (the Fair) in 1308. It then proceeds to tell the legend tells of the martyrdom of the three princesses of Burgundy, Marguerite, Blanche and Jeanne.

3) Wall inside Galerie Arnoux – 27, rue Guénégaud
In the photo you see the reflection of the building opposite, 12, rue de Guénégaud. If you look on a map you see it almost directly across from the mouth of the Impasse de Nevers.

4) Rue de Nesle & Impasse de Nevers
Notice the slant of the building at the end of the impasse; it follows the original course of the Philippe-Auguste wall.

5) The Wall Underground – Parking Mazarine at 29, rue Mazarine.
A nearby Histoire de Paris explains how the wall was absorbed into adjoining buildings as borders of property, bases for houses or for stone quarries, and that a long section of the wall and base of a tower are visible in the underground parking garage. Use of the wall in this fashion ensured its preservation.

Photos: February 2006