Vincennes

Sister cities

• Castrop-Rauxel
• Blackrock
• Montigny-le-Tilleul
• Tomar
• Vincennes
• Lambeth

History

The Marquis de Sade was imprisoned in Vincennes fortress in 1777, where he remained until February 1784 although he escaped for a little over a month in 1778. Thereafter Vincennes fortress was closed and de Sade transferred to the Bastille. In 1821, the noted French poet, Alfred de Vigny, wrote his poem, "La Prison," which details the last days of the Man in the Iron Mask at Vincennes. The ministers of Charles X were imprisoned at the fortress of Vincennes after the July Revolution. A test was conducted in 1849 on Claude-Étienne Minié's invention the Minié ball which would prove successful and years later be adopted by the French army. The Hôtel de Ville was completed in 1891. On the morning of 15 October 1917, famous femme fatale Mata Hari was executed for espionage by a French firing squad at Château de Vincennes. In 1929, the commune of Vincennes lost about half of its territory when the city of Paris annexed the Bois de Vincennes, a large part of which belonged to the commune of Vincennes. Vincennes was also the site of some famous European colonial expositions in the 20th century in which fairs were held to showcase artifacts from former European colonies.

Most-observed species

• Common Wood-Pigeon

  Columba palumbus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  19,637
• Great Tit

  Parus major Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  19,234
• Carrion Crow

  Corvus corone Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  18,710
• Rose-ringed Parakeet

  Psittacula krameri (Scopoli, 1769) · Aves
  16,046
• Eurasian Magpie

  Pica pica (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  15,596
• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  15,378
• Eurasian Blue Tit

  Cyanistes caeruleus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  14,779
• Rock Pigeon

  Columba livia J.F.Gmelin, 1789 · Aves
  14,062