On the evening of 13 November 2015, a series of coordinated terrorist attacks occurred in Paris. The attackers killed 130 people, including 89 at the Bataclan theatre, depicted here, where they took hostages before engaging in a stand-off with police. The attacks were the deadliest on France since World War II. Boulevard Voltaire is reconstructed from news and amateur video, photographs, Google street view and electronic painting.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for the attacks,saying it was in retaliation for the French airstrikes on ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq.