1-154-038 - Art Media-Private Collection/Heritage Images

Artillery pieces lined up outside the Hotel de Ville, Paris, 16 May 1871. The Hotel de Ville became the headquarters of the government of the Paris Commune after it seized power in March 1871. In this photograph the cannon of the Garde Nationale are massed outside the building in preparation to defend it from the forces of the Versailles government. From a private collection.