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Artifact

Key to the Bastille

Main key of the Bastille, sent by Lafayette to George Washington in 1790; it hangs at Mount Vernon.

3 links, 2 backed by primary records

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Timeline 2 dates
  1. Jul 1789 Marquis de Lafayette acquired Key to the Bastille
  2. Aug 1790 George Washington acquired Key to the Bastille
Proof 2 sources
  1. To George Washington from Lafayette, 17 March 1790, National Archives, Founders Online, 17 Mar 1790. Primary record Archived copy
    The key sent by Lafayette to GW was the main key to the Bastille, supposedly carried from the Bastille to the Paris town hall after the fall of the prison on 14 July 1789 and there presented to Lafayette.
    The two gifts, together with letters from Lafayette and Paine, arrived in New York in August 1790
  2. Key to the Bastille (collection record), Mount Vernon Ladies' Association. Scholarship & press
    both objects remain to this day.
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