3-039-205 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The French Siege of Paris: barricade at the end of the rue de Rivoli, Place de la Concorde, 1871. 'The barricades constructed by order of the Commune across the main thoroughfares to the centre of Paris are very substantial. One, represented by our Illustration, is that which closes the entrance to the Rue de Rivoli and the Rue St. Florentin, from the Place de la Concorde, abutting on the Ministry of Marine, to the one hand, and on the wall of the Tuileries Gardens to the other. In front of it is a wide and deep ditch, the bottom of which is the open sewer, with the water-pipes and gas-pipes exposed to view. Four embrasures for guns appear in the parapet of the barricade, which consists of piled sacks full of earthen mould. Behind it is a covered way, backed with ranges of casks filled with earth or stones. The guns placed at this barricade would sweep the Avenue of the Champs Elysées'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.