Bastille into an open public area, with a tall column at the centre surrounded by fountains, dedicated to Louis XVI as the "restorer of public freedom". The number of prisoners held in the Bastille at any one time declined sharply towards the end of Louis's reign; the prison contained ten prisoners in September 1782 and, despite a mild increase at the beginning of 1788, by July 1789 only seven prisoners remained in custody. Before any official scheme to close the prison could be enacted, however, disturbances across Paris brought a more violent end to the Bastille. By July 1789, revolutionary sentiment
Governor of the Bastille Governor of the Bastille The Bastille or Bastille Saint-Antoine was completed in 1383. The commander of the Bastille was its governor, and was previously called "capitaine". In 1367, King Charles V ordered the construction of the "fort et bastide Saint Anthoine lez Paris", literally fort and bastide of Saint Anthony close to Paris, which will later take the name of "Bastille". The works will be completed twenty years later, in 1387, under the reign of Charles VI. The first captain-governor was a close aquaintaince of the King, already chamberlain under the two previous reigns: Jehan de La Personne, knight, viscount