Conciergerie Palace Paris. Conciergerie Palace in Paris: photo, address, excursions

The complex of the Palace of Justice occupies almost half of the island of Cité - it is a city within a city. Everything is concentrated here: the criminal police, the courtrooms of all instances, and the prosecutor's office.

The complex of the Palace of Justice was created over the centuries and, without exaggeration, millennia, and each era has left its mark on this eclectic, but with a peculiar charm ensemble.

On weekdays, all parts of this complex are open to the public. It can be visited during a holiday in Paris. You can hear a story about the Palace of Justice during a tour of historical center city, which includes many tours to Paris.

Initially, the Palace of Justice was the residence of the kings of France. Even Clovis - the king of the Merovingian dynasty - made Paris the capital of the Frankish kingdom. The second royal dynasty in the history of France - the Carolingians - moved the capital from Paris. The Capetian dynasty that replaced them again returned to Paris the importance of the capital with the royal residence on the Ile de la Cité. At the end of the 10th century, Hugo Capet, the first king of the Capetian dynasty, placed the council and administration in the palace.

Hugo Capet's son Robert II the Pious (972-1031) decided to increase the Royal Castle. He attached curtains to the walls. In the north-east of the castle he built the Royal Hall, where the Curia (Great Royal Council) met, in the west - the Royal Chamber. The palace, built according to all the rules of fortress architecture, was a building with an inner courtyard, surrounded on all sides by square towers.

Louis VI the Fat (1108-1137), besieged by the lords, fortified the walls on the western side of the fortress, demolished the ancient donjon and built a powerful tower, which had 11.7 m in diameter and walls 3 meters thick. This tower received in the XVI century. name "Montgomery", and stood until the 18th century.

Louis VII the Young (or the Younger) (1120-1180) enlarged the royal chambers and added a chapel to them, the lower chapel of which would later become a chapel

Today, the complex of the Palace of Justice occupies almost half of the island of Cité - it is a city within a city. Everything is concentrated in one place: the criminal police, the courtrooms of all instances, and the prosecutor's office. Eclectic, but possessing a peculiar charm, the ensemble has been created for centuries and, without exaggeration, millennia.

The first, in the third century BC, the Roman rulers of the land of Gaul settled on the island of Cité. King Clovis of the Franks chose this small island place for the capital of their state.
The real Royal Palace on Sita appeared only in the eleventh century, it was built according to all the rules of fortress architecture: a small building with a courtyard, surrounded on all sides by square towers.

Something remotely reminiscent of the modern appearance of the palace appeared under Louis IX Saint: on his orders, the Holy Chapel was erected, which entered all the annals of architecture as a standard of flaming Gothic. Despite the fact that she is an integral part of the overall ensemble, a separate story will be devoted to her later.
Philip the Handsome, who ruled France at the very beginning of the 14th century, decided to build a palace worthy of a king. He entrusted all the work to Engerrand de Marigny. First of all, the architect landscaped the chambers of the king and created the Great Hall (today in its place is the Hall of Lost Steps), also called the Hall of Prosecutors: the Parliament, which then performed the functions of the only body of justice in the country, sat in it.
Philip the Handsome also introduced the post of concierge - the manager of the entire palace. For the concierge and his services, special premises were built, later called the Conciergerie (Conciergerie). These include the Guards Hall, the Hall of Warriors and three towers: Caesar, as a reminder that the Romans once lived here; Silver, in which the king kept his relics; and finally the tower where the criminals were subjected to terrible torture: Bonbek.
The huge, vaulted Gothic Hall of Warriors served as a dining room for 3,000 guards and other servants of the palace. The position of concierge was one of the most profitable in Paris, because he had the right to rent out all the premises of the Conciergerie located on the ground floor (in 1596 there were 224 shops owned by hairdressers, wine merchants, book dealers, jewelers).

The palace remained the residence of the kings of France until 1358, when rebellious Parisian merchants slaughtered half of the advisers of Charles V, and the frightened Dauphin left this place forever to first settle in the Saint-Paul Palace, and then in the Louvre. Bad memories did not prevent the king from making some improvements: on the highest of the towers, he installed the first city clock. Their blue dial is decorated with white lilies, a symbol of royalty. On both sides of the clock are bas-relief images of Law and Justice. Since then, this tower has become known as the Sentry.
Despite the fact that the king left the palace, life in it did not stop. Here the meetings of the Parisian Parliament, which dealt with legal issues, continued. And the premises of the Conciergerie turned into a prison.

Numerous fires hit the palace. The fire of 1618 turned out to be the most devastating, when huge premises were destroyed in one night, all the stucco, all the sculptures, the painting of the plafonds of the Hall of Lost Steps, and many documents were destroyed. In 1630, the fire engulfed the Holy Chapel and miraculously managed to save it. The merchants' gallery, once the liveliest place in Paris, was destroyed by a fire in 1776. This place is now the main entrance to the Palais de Justice, separated from the street by an elegant lattice, cast during the time of Louis XVI.

After the revolution, the palace housed the Tribunal, which short term of its existence sent to the scaffold more than two and a half thousand people, among them were "enemies of the revolution" - aristocrats and the creators of the tribunal themselves.

During the Napoleonic era, a new judicial system, but, as before, it remained within the walls of the former Royal Palace and the Conciergerie, which were commissioned to rebuild the architect Giraud.
The main work on the complete reconstruction and expansion of the palace began, however, only in 1840 under the direction of Yuyo, who was replaced by Duke. For a short time, new buildings were erected on the Clock Embankment, the May Court was built up, so named because in the time of the kings a new tree was planted here every year. The Hall of Lost Steps was restored, and the few buildings that remained from the first royal palace built back in the 11th century were demolished. As soon as all the work was completed, another revolution broke out - the Paris Commune. In the hundred days of its existence, almost all of Paris burned down, and the Palace of Justice was no exception.
Construction began anew: in 1875, the Arley lobby was opened. Its architecture is very solemn, but the appearance of the western facade of the Palace of Justice completely destroyed another architectural ensemble of the Ile de la Cité, no less remarkable: Place Dauphine, created under Henry III and which was the prototype of the Place des Vosges.

All restoration work was completed only by the beginning of the First World War. In 1914, the Palace of Justice was recognized as an architectural monument, and the Conciergerie building ceased to serve as a prison.
Despite the fact that construction work was carried out in the building of the palace for almost a century, its main activity was not interrupted for a single day. Trials in France are public, often attracting a large audience, and often become a theatrical performance or arena for political battles. Here, for example, the most high-profile trials that took place here: 1880 - the trial of Sarah Bernhardt for breaking her life contract with the Comédie Francaise, 1893 - the Panama scandal, 1898 - the political trial of Emile Zola for his famous pamphlet "I accuse", 1906 - the conviction of Dreyfus, 1917 - accused of espionage and sentenced to death dancing Mata Hari, 1932 - Russian emigrant Gorgulov was sentenced to death for the assassination of French President Paul Doumer, 1945 - Marshal Peten was tried for collaborationism.

On weekdays, all parts of this complex are open to the public.

Embankment of Jewelers

In Paris, on the very shores of the Ile de la Cité, located on the River Seine, not far from the famous Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris, rises a majestic building with a dark history - the Conciergerie Palace. The former luxurious chambers of many generations of French monarchs, immersed in luxury and wealth, and the former harsh prison with terrible torture chambers - all this is the Conciergerie Castle.

Model of medieval Paris, o.Cite, 16th century. Carnavalet Museum

Its exterior is so authentic that it is impossible to pass by it. The Conciergerie is a must visit for anyone who decides to visit Paris. Conciergerie (fr. La Conciergerie) is a former royal castle and prison in the very center of Paris in its 1st arrondissement. The Conciergerie Castle is part of the complex of the Palace of Justice (fr. Palais de Justice), which still houses municipal services, the court, and the prosecutor's office.

Bonbeck Tower

Caesar's Tower and Silver Tower

This complex occupies almost half of the island of Cité. Today, the palace is a diverse architectural ensemble with elements built from the 13th to the 20th centuries. Two buildings have survived from the time of the Capetians: the royal chapel of Sainte-Chapelle and the Conciergerie. Both of these architectural monuments are museums. Hundreds of prisoners during the French Revolution were thrown into the Conciergerie and then executed

The month of May in the Book of Hours of the Duke of Berry, the backdrop is the Cité Palace in Paris with the entrance to the left, the Conciergerie and the clock tower.

And it's already June against the same background

Dark rooftops...

Bars...walls...souvenir shops

I can imagine how terrifying it was for the prisoners to be here ... it’s just scary to walk here

Pay attention to the thickness of the walls?
The beginning of the history of the Conciergerie Palace (emphasis on the last “and”) goes back centuries, this building can be called one of oldest palaces Paris, founded in the distant VI century, (probably in 508) the king of the Franks Clovis chose the island of Cité for the construction of the palace, and for the first time Paris became the official residence of the king.

Dark Gothic vaults

James I André du Querceaux, Great Hall of the Palais de la Cité, 1560

He lived there until his death in 511. During the era of the Carolingian dynasty, the center of the empire moved to the east; the monarchs abandoned their palace, and the city was deserted.

Clovis and Hugo Capet

At the end of the tenth century Hugo Capet(the first king of the Capetian dynasty) housed the council and administration in the palace.

Great Hall now

Thus the castle became the residence of the French kings, and Paris again became the capital of the king of France, whereas under the last Carolingians it was Laon. For four centuries, the Capetians worked to transform their fortress.

Son of Hugo Capet Robert II the Pious(972-1031), having married Constance of Arles (third wife), an ambitious woman who bore nine children to the king, decided to increase the royal castle. He attached curtains to the walls. In the north-east of the castle, he built the Royal Hall, where the Curia (Great Royal Council (Curia regis)) met, in the west - the Royal Chamber. In the same place where Louis IX would erect the Sainte-Chapelle, Robert ordered to erect the chapel of Saint-Nicolas, since his father granted the old royal chapel to the monks of the Order of St. Magloire.

Spiral staircase without railing

How did the architects not get confused in this intersection and piling up of arches, columns and vaults?

"Eagle of Suger" exhibited in the Louvre

Louis VI the Fat(1081/1078 - 1137) and his friend Abbot Suger from the monastery of Saint-Denis did everything to put the power of the church at the service of the monarchy and pacify the vassals. Besieged by the lords, the king fortified the walls on the western side of the fortress, demolished the ancient donjon and built a powerful tower 11.70 meters in diameter with walls 3 meters thick, which received in the 16th century. name "Montgomery", and stood until the 18th century.

Is it a fireplace ... or a secret passage?

Louis VII the Young(or the Younger) (1120-1180) enlarged the royal chambers and added a chapel to them, the lower chapel of which would later become the Conciergerie chapel.

The remains of former decorations remind of the palatial origin of this place.

Philip II August(1165-1223) - the warlike king became an innovator in the field of military architecture; with the help of a whole cohort of engineers, personally observing the progress of work, he built up the entire royal domain with fortresses, protecting them with towers and donjons. The palace in Sita became the center of power. In 1187, Philip II Augustus receives Richard the Lionheart at the castle, in 1193 he celebrates his wedding with Ingeborg of Denmark, and for the first time the royal charters mention a “concierge” who receives a salary for the execution of “small and medium justice” in the palace territory. In addition, according to the testimony of the chronicler and doctor Rigord, Philip II ordered to pave the fetid swamps around the palace, the smell of which bothered him.

The exposition is dedicated to historical events in this castle-dungeon

Louis IX Saint(1214-1270) being virtuous, he was not devoid of ambition. He set out to become the light of the Western Christian world and in 1239 acquired the holy relics of the Passion of the Lord, exhibited them in the palace, specially building for them in record time (1242-1248) a luxurious reliquary - the Sainte-Chapelle chapel.

Reliquary

He also erected the Treasury of Charters; gallery de Mercier, which connected the upper chapel of the palace with the royal chambers; "Hall on the Waters", which served for ceremonies. Gradually castles-fortresses lose their defensive role and become habitats. From now on, the royal abode must meet the requirements of comfort and luxury.

In the XIV century, under Philip IV the Handsome(1268-1314), the fortress turned into the most luxurious palace in Europe. Philip instructed the coadjutor of the French kingdom (chief ruler) Enguerrand de Marigny (the future prisoner of the Conciergerie) to build a palace, the new look of which would be a reflection of royal grandeur. In addition, the coadjutor had the task of making the castle as spacious as possible so that administrative services could fit in it.

The exposition of the interiors of the Middle Ages ... everything is very natural and frightening

For this, many houses that were close to the palace were expropriated. The following were built: the Chamber of Investigation, Caesar's Tower, the Silver Tower, a gallery for the transition to the Bonbec Tower, a new fortress wall in the south, the Accounts Chamber opposite the Sainte-Chapelle ... The Great Hall was erected on the site of the Royal Hall, much more spacious than the first.

A huge table made of black marble brought from Germany was placed in it, the walls were sheathed with wooden panels, and on each of the supporting columns stood polychrome statues of the kings of France created by Evrard of Orleans.

Charles V the Wise and John II the Good

John II the Good(1319-1364) was the last to have a hand in a medieval palace: he built floors above the gallery de Mercier for the palace servants, built a building for kitchens, a square tower (Clock Tower), on which his son Charles V the Wise in 1370 placed the first city clock.

At the end of the 14th century, the history of the royal palace ended. In 1358, a popular uprising took place under the leadership of the Parisian provost Etienne Marcel. Taking advantage of the absence of King John II, who was captured by the British, he organized the murder of two of his advisers, and in front of the future king Charles V. Having become king, Charles V left the castle and the island of Cité, setting up a residence in the Saint-Paul mansion, and then in the Louvre.

Stella in memory of the executed

What that very first building looked like is not known for certain, since the Palace was regularly reconstructed and completed by various monarchs. And also often suffered from the destructive flame of fires. By the way, it was in the Conciergerie Palace that the famous Princess Anna lived, the daughter of the Kyiv prince Yaroslav the Wise, who became the wife of the French monarch. La Conciergerie

Jean Fouquet, Banquet Hall of Charles V the Wise, between 1455 and 1460. January 6-1378, King Charles V the Wise gives a banquet in honor of Charles IV, Emperor of Bohemia, and his son Wenceslas, King of the Romans. Meals take place in the Hall of the Palace, in the presence of the court and a significant crowd of dignitaries....

The history of the building as a luxurious residence of the French kings ended in the 14th century, when, after a popular revolt (two royal advisers fell at the hands of angry Parisians in revolt), Charles V decided to transfer his residence to new palace Louvre. In the building of the old royal palace, a part of the administration located there remained, at the head of which the monarch left his senior concierge. And so the name of the palace was born - Conciergerie (La Conciergerie).

Palace..of the Kings.Paris
After the king left the Conciergerie Palace, he began to refer to the Palace of Justice. Not far from the Conciergerie was a prison. When all prisoners ceased to be placed in it, some prisoners began to be placed within the walls of the former royal palace.

Jean-Louis Prieur, Agasse brothers going to execution, their bodies made by their families: February 8, 1790, 1802

Thus began a new page in the history of La Conciergerie - in 1391 it officially became a royal prison. In those days, there was actually always one way out of a prisoner - it was execution through the guillotine. Before the execution, the prisoner was taken to the church of Notre Dame de Paris, where he could make a public penance. And then the unfortunate was taken to the infamous Greve Square, where the execution took place.

The Conciergerie is one of the darkest places in Paris, behind the walls of which the restless souls of prisoners appear. Walls that have absorbed the groans of the condemned and those who died in suffering.

Comfort in prison depended on the social status and condition of the prisoner. The prisoners themselves or their relatives paid for their living in the prison. The rich could afford spacious cells with solid furniture, noble prisoners were allowed to read books and write letters. A prisoner of average prosperity could pay for narrow little rooms with a hard bed. Such "small" cameras were called "pistols" - from the monetary unit "pistol". And the prisoners-poor were waiting for imprisonment in a damp dark basement with straw bedding instead of a bed and rats. For a long time in such conditions, people did not survive.

The prison was divided into women's and men's parts. Women could walk in the courtyard near the fountain, where they were allowed to visit their relatives. Poor imprisoned ladies who could not pay for the services of laundresses themselves washed their clothes in the fountain during a walk.

The round tower on the right was called the Silver Tower, according to legend, royal treasures were hidden there.

In the era of the French Revolution, the Conciergerie became a prison for the "suspicious", the only way out of which was to the guillotine. The prisoners were kept by several people in a cell - the time of their stay in prison was usually short. After the verdict was passed, the suicide bombers held a farewell dinner, in the morning a wagon to the guillotine was waiting for them.

"Tomorrow is the execution, the usual feast for the people ..." - as Pushkin wrote about the prisoners of the Conciergerie.

In September 1792, about a hundred prisoners died from lynching, when an angry, drunken crowd of sans-culottes broke into the prison to "hang on the lanterns" the hated "enemies of the people."

The revolutionary Marat approved of the actions of "true patriots", he called himself "Friend of the People" and published a newspaper of the same name. Soon he himself became a victim of lynching. He was killed by a girl - Charlotte Corday.

The painting "The Death of Marat" - the artist Jacques-Louis David, who survived the king, the revolution, the directory and then painted portraits of Napoleon. Contemporaries called him "One of the most dishonorable people of the era"

In the picture in Marat's hand is an order - as if he was going to give money to a poor girl, and she killed him. In fact, Marat prepared to write down the names of the "enemies of the people" that Charlotte promised to name him. Therefore, he agreed to an audience with a stranger. Marat suffered from skin diseases and was forced to take a bath, which is why he received visitors in this form.

On the death of Marat, our A.S. Pushkin wrote:

The fiend of rebellion raises an evil cry:
Contemptible, dark and bloody,
Over the corpse of liberty headless
An ugly executioner arose.

Apostle of death, tired Hades
With a finger he appointed victims,
But the Supreme Court sent him
You and the virgin Eumenides*.

* Eumenis - the ancient goddess of revenge.

Marie Anna Charlotte Corday d'Armon (better known as Charlotte Corday) is a French heroine, noblewoman, murderer of Jean Paul Marat, who was executed by the Jacobins.

The murdered Marat was revered as a martyr of the revolution, songs and odes were dedicated to him.
In defense of Charlotte Corday during the years of terror, the poet Andre Chenier dared to speak, not hiding his admiration for her bold act:
"Then, as in these days, poisoned by filth,
Scoundrels groan, who really, who hypocritically,
Among the immortals honoring his Marat,
And the arrogant servant of this idol,
Parnassian vile reptile, inhabitant of Parnassian mud
Screams his pathetic hymn at his altars.

Charlotte before her execution. Women had their hair cut. All personal belongings, even clothes and shoes, were taken from the condemned for the benefit of the revolution.

"... Oh, how we were deceived by your, maiden, gentle appearance,
When you are in the depths of your rebellious plan,
Revenge mercilessly cherished, melting,
So the sky is quiet in windless azure
It sometimes harbors the possibility of a wild storm,
Throwing lightning, exciting the sea.

And brought to the mean execution place,
You were beautiful like a young bride
Calm face and clear clear eyes,
How you despised the blasphemy of the crowd,
She considers herself sovereign and free
And with a cry of joy, catching the sentence.

But with your feat gossip and our shame.
We - sons of France - are silent, downcast eyes.
Becoming a man for a moment, you shamed us,
We are miserable eunuchs, we are a choir of slave souls,
mired in complaints, bogged down in women's sobs
Then, when the hour calls for dagger revenge."

The poet added to the lists of "enemies of the people", was arrested and sentenced to death.

"Servant of the people" reads out the list of those sentenced, the figure of Andre Chenier in the center

A.S. Pushkin described the last minutes before the execution of the poet Andre Chenier:
... lamps quiet light
Pale before the morning dawn,
And the morning blew into the dungeon. And the poet
Raised important eyes to the grate ...
Suddenly noise. Come, call. They! There is no hope!
Keys, locks, locks sound.
My name is... Wait, wait; day only, day one:
And there are no executions, and freedom for everyone,
And the great citizen lives
Among the great people.
They don't hear. The procession is silent. The executioner is waiting.
But friendship will enchant the poet's mortal path.
Here's the bad. He ascended. He calls glory...
Cry, muse, cry!

The fate of the executed writer impressed Pushkin:
While the astonished world
Looks at Byron's urn,
And a chorus of European lyres
Near Dante his shadow listens,

Another shadow is calling me
For a long time without songs, without sobs
From the bloody chopping block in the days of suffering
Canopy descended into the grave.

Singer of love, oak forests and peace
I bring funeral flowers.
An unknown lyre sounds.
I sing. He listens to me and you ...

The first clock in Paris was installed on the tower of the Conciergerie (then a palace) in the 14th century, the original clock has been lost. The current version of the clock is the work of a master of the 16th century. The bottom inscription is “This mechanism, dividing Time into twelve equal and fair parts, teaches us to protect Justice and protect the Laws.”

During the years of the revolution, the phrase about the "Protection of Justice" sounded ominous. They seemed to be counting the last minutes of the life of the convicts.

"Bridge Changer" leading to the Conciergerie prison. According to him, the condemned followed to execution. Bridge rebuilt in 1860

The Conciergerie prison became a museum at the beginning of the 20th century - in 1914

Jean-Louis Prieur, The Aghessy brothers on their way to their execution, February 8, 1790, 1802
Famous Prisoners of the Conciergerie

Once the first residence of the French kings, and then the oldest prison in Paris, this gloomy building on the Ile de la Cité is often visited to gawk at the place where the VIPs of French history were imprisoned. And above all, on the camera, where Marie Antoinette languished for 76 days awaiting execution, and where her wax figure now sits with her back to the public. Danton and Robespierre sat nearby, executioners and victims of the revolution, poets and scientists, separatists and serial killers. And now, under the battered Gothic vaults, the population turned out to be even more motley: here the real characters were mixed with the mythological ones - Joan of Arc, the Count of Monte Cristo, Napoleon, the Three Musketeers and Milady, Fanfan-Tulip, Madame Dubarry and Queen Margot, the same Danton with Marie Antoinette

Enguerrand de Marigny - adviser to King Philip IV of France the Handsome.

Famous for the fact that, along with some other associates of Philip IV, he participated in the destruction of the Knights Templar. Since most of the bishops refused to participate in the process against the Templars, through the efforts of Angerran, his younger brother Jean de Marigny was given an episcopal degree in order to condemn the Templars. After the death of King Philip IV, Angerran fell into disgrace with the new king Louis X the Quarrelsome. Through the efforts of the uncle of the young king, Charles of Valois, the minister was accused of many serious crimes (embezzlement, treason), with the help of false witnesses, his guilt was confirmed and sentenced to be hanged. De Marigny's wife was sentenced to prison. All their property was transferred to the state treasury. The fate of Enguerrand de Marigny can be found in the first two novels of the Cursed Kings series by Maurice Druon: The Iron King and The Prisoner of Chateau Gaillard.

Madame du Barry

The famous mistress of King Louis XU. Accused of spying for Britain

Francois Ravaillac

Arrested for the murder of Henry IV. Ravaillac was a Protestant fanatic who had a vision - that he should kill the king. Sentenced to death - quartering, but the crowd did not allow the executioner to do his job and tore the killer of the king to pieces. The descendants of Ravaillac were sent into exile and changed their surnames.

Comte de Montgomery

Many are known for the novel by Alexandre Dumas - "Two Dianas". At a tournament in a duel, he mortally wounded King Henry II. Then the count managed to avoid punishment - the tournament was fair, they could not condemn the winner. Gabriel de Montgomery was later arrested on charges of treason and executed.

Marquise de Brainvilliers

She became famous as a poisoner. Together with an accomplice-lover, she also poisoned her husband and children. The lover also confessed to the atrocities, but then suddenly died.
The marquise is also mentioned in Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita.

Cartouche

Louis-Dominique Bourguignon - famous robber

The son of an innkeeper, became the chieftain of a gang in Paris and its environs. Supported by secret friends, he was not afraid of the police and acted with increasing courage. Issued by one of the persons close to him and sentenced to be wheeled, Kartush named his accomplices, including many ladies and nobles, just before the execution. Kartush's adventures were repeatedly played out in popular fiction, as well as in the cinema - in the film "Kartush" (1962) and "Kartush, noble robber" (2009).

Chretien Guillaume de Lamont de Malecerbes, lawyer, defender of Louis XI

Philippe d'Orleans, MP

Maximilien de Robespierre, revolutionary

Manon Rolland, revolutionary Girondist

Theophylle de Villo

French writer, poet, playwright

Comtesse de Lamotte

An adventurer posing as a person of royal blood tricked her into getting the famous "Queen's Necklace" (more on this separately).

"Civil execution" of an adventurer. She was publicly flogged with rods, and a brand with the letter "V", which meant "thief", was burned on her shoulder. She was sentenced to life imprisonment, but escaped from prison and moved to London. The countess took revenge on Marie Antoinette by publishing in England a scandalous book about " personal life queen", gossip from which the Jacobins then used to accuse Marie Antoinette.

Georges Jacques Danton, guillotined April 5, 1794 in Paris, lawyer to the Soviets, politician, Russian, Minister of Justice.

All the Carmelites in Compiègne, sixteen nuns for "fanaticism and sedition." Did you remember anything?

Elisabeth Philippa Marie-Helene de Bourbon. Sister of Louis XU!. Executed for company with him

The leader of the Venezuelan revolution ... executed. Fought for the liberation of America from the Europeans

Jacques-René Hébert, born in Alencon on November 15, 1757 and guillotined in Paris on March 24, 1794, is a Russian politician and journalist.

All Girondins

Antoine de Lavoisier - famous chemist, physicist, scientist

Search and arrest of a scientist

Queen Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette to the Revolutionary Tribunal. Work by de Alphonse François after Paul de la Roche

The death sentence of Marie Antoinette by the Revolutionary Tribunal.

The Queen found herself a prisoner in the same prison as the adventuress Comtesse de Lamotte. The queen, who spent a fortune on dresses and jewelry during her years of power, was allowed to take two dresses to prison - white and black. Executed on the guillotine.

The poor woman was guarded around the clock ....

Someone is now broadcasting about democracy and so on ... they executed a woman, a queen ... For what?

It was only in 1914 that the Conciergerie ceased to be a prison, and was also recognized as a historical architectural monument of Paris, the former cells became open to the public.

Execution of the sentence of Marie Antoinette on the Place de la Révolution, October 16, 1793. (Anonymous. Carnavalet Museum).

Here they are the fruits of revolutions ... terror

And then the monuments are erected ... Monument to Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, in the abbey of Saint-Denis, France.

The name "Conciergerie" meant either a private concierge mansion or a prison at the judiciary.

Leaving the palace, the king entrusted his protection to the concierge. Such an important position could only be held by very influential persons of high rank, among them was Queen Isabella of Bavaria.

"Numbers" for "commoners"

Their jewelry...

Under the Conciergerie, there was a prison room inside the palace walls at all times. At the end of the 14th century, when the neighboring prison at Châtelet became overcrowded, some of the prisoners were transferred to the cells of the palace. In 1391 the building became an official prison. It contained political prisoners, and swindlers, and murderers.

The conditions in which the criminals lived depended entirely on their wealth, status and connections.

Here sat Robespierre

Courtyard for women with laundry fountain

Three towers of the Conciergerie have survived from medieval times: Caesar, named after the Roman emperor; the Silver Tower, which kept the royal treasures; and Bonbec (fr. Bonbec - “good beak”), which received this name due to the fact that it contained torture chambers, and the “singing” of the victims could be heard from there.

The royal apartments, the gallery de Mercier, the Great entrance to the Powerful Tower, the gallery of merchants, which was once the busiest place in Paris, were destroyed by a fire in 1776. The reconstruction was entrusted to the architects Jacques Denis Antoine, Guillaume Martin Couture and Demaison. They demolished the Treasury of the Charters, the eastern wall of the palace, the Montgomery tower and built the modern facade of the Palace of Justice, the Sainte-Chapelle gallery, new prison cells, the Conciergerie chapel on the site of a 12th-century chapel.

On the eve of the Revolution, the struggle for power between Parliament and King Louis XVI began to look like a theatrical performance. On May 5, 1788, the parliamentarians locked themselves in the palace, refusing to hand over two people whom Louis XVI had sent for. In 1789, the Constituent Assembly (Constituent Assembly) decided to dissolve Parliament for an indefinite period. In 1790, Jean Sylvain Bailly, mayor of Paris, sealed the doors of the palace. In 1792 the monarchy fell. The revolutionary tribunal, established in March 1793, was located in the Great Royal Chambers. In July, Robespierre joined the Committee of Public Salvation with a program based on virtue and terror. The "Law on Suspicious" ordered the arrest of all enemies of the Revolution who admitted their guilt or were only suspected of anti-revolutionary views.

From 1793 to 1794, more than 2,700 people appeared before Fouquier-Tinville, public prosecutor of the Tribunal, among whom were Queen Marie Antoinette and Robespierre. In 1794, witnesses and defenders were abolished; every day, several dozen prisoners were sent to the guillotine. The tribunal was dissolved in May 1795 after the fall of Robespierre.

The Conciergerie had a reputation for being the harshest prison. During the revolutionary Terror, the cells held several hundred prisoners, who were kept in terrible conditions. Until 1794, "suspicious" prisoners were kept in the same cells as those convicted of ordinary criminal offenses. After the announcement of the verdict, those sentenced to death could have a final feast.

Trials in France are public, often attracting large audiences. The loudest trials in the Palace of Justice:

1880 Sarah Bernhardt is tried for breaking her life contract with the Comédie Francaise;

1888 Panama Company bond
1893 - Panama scandal;

1898 political trial of Émile Zola for his famous pamphlet I Accuse;

The public demolition of Alfred Dreyfus (illustrated by A. Meyer in Le Petit Journal, January 13, 1895)
1906 - the condemnation of Dreyfus;

1917 - accused of espionage and sentenced to death dancer and spy Mata Hari;

1932 - for the assassination of French President Paul Du

The history of the Conciergerie castle begins at the same time as the history of the rise of Paris. Paris became the capital of the Frankish state in 508, when King Clovis I of the Merovingian dynasty decided to establish on the western tip of the island of Cite impregnable castle, your personal residence. This original palace was the forerunner of the modern Conciergerie.

The change of dynasties led to a change in geographical priorities, and under the Carolingians, the center of the state shifted from Paris to the east, to the city of Laon, as a result of which the royal castle on the island of Cité began to gradually fall into decay and decay, like all of Paris. The city was destined to enter the heyday phase again in the 10th century, when Hugh Capet, the founder of the Capetian dynasty, again transferred the royal residence to Paris, and the status of a royal fortress was returned to the castle.

The next 4 centuries were a time of great architectural transformation. Each monarch from the descendants of Hugh Capet sought to rebuild the castle according to his needs and aesthetic ideas. Underground galleries connecting the fortifications were attached to the walls; royal hall meetings and the Royal Chamber. New churches and chapels appeared on the territory of the fortress, and by the 13th century it became a truly impregnable military fortification, towers and donjons were added to its appearance. At the same time, under Philip II, for the first time in historical documents, the position of a concierge is mentioned - the guardian of minor court cases on the territory of the palace. Saint Louis turned the castle from a formidable impregnable fort into a repository of holy Christian relics. The fortress is gradually losing its military significance. And at the end of the XIII century, through the efforts of Philip the Handsome, Paris acquires one of the most magnificent royal palaces in Europe - as close as possible to its modern form. Here the fortress walls are being renovated, the Silver Tower and the Tower of Caesar are being built, the Royal Hall is expanding, its interior is decorated with statues of Frankish monarchs. In the middle of the XIV century, the last adjustments were made to the appearance of the castle - in particular, the Clock Tower was completed.

(price: 25.00 €, 2 hours)

After the popular uprising of 1358, and the coming to power of Charles V, the royal residence was moved from the Ile de la Cité to the Louvre, and the old royal castle became the Palace of Justice. Having left the family nest, the king entrusted the palace to the concierge, hence the name - Conciergerie.

By the end of the 14th century, the prison adjacent to the Palace of Justice began to overflow, and some of the prisoners were transferred to the Conciergerie. Gradually, the palace acquired the official status of a prison, sometimes overshadowing the glory of the Bastille. Wealthy prisoners could afford single furnished cells here, while the lower class languished in basements, on straw, with rats.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the architectural ensemble of the palace was damaged by several major fires, as a result of which its appearance again changed somewhat during restoration work.

The French Revolution and the fall of the monarchy further exacerbated the dark glory of the once luxurious palace. Since 1793, a revolutionary tribunal has been located in the royal chambers of the castle. Political prisoners flowed like a river through the Conciergerie cells, into the courtrooms, and from there to the guillotine. There was even an aphorism that the guillotine was the only way to freedom from the Conciergerie. The "Law on Suspicious" gave the right to arrest anyone who in any way resembled the enemies of the Revolution, sometimes without any reason. The defendants had no right to witnesses and protection. Among the most famous prisoners of the prison are Marie Antoinette and Robespierre, who, by an ironic accident, fell victim to the policy of universal terror inspired by himself.

The revolutionary tribunal did not last long, in fact, it was dissolved after the death of Robespierre, having managed, however, to sentence more than 2,500 prisoners to death in two years. Other sentences, except for the death penalty, the tribunal did not pass. After the Revolution, the castle remained a prison for some time, but gradually began to lose its sinister glory. In 1914, partially retaining the functions of the Palace of Justice, the castle was opened to the general public as a museum.

Attractions

The walls of this Palace evoke echoes of "those times" for tourists. Those who visit the Palace will plunge into the world of that time and learn about the terrible executions and crimes that were hidden behind the walls of the palace.

Sainte Chapelle

Built by Saint Louis IX in the 13th century, this chapel was not the first temple building on the territory architectural complex royal palace. In its place, there used to be the chapel of St. Nicholas, erected at the beginning of the 11th century. Louis, who began the systematic transformation of the fortification into a repository of shrines obtained by the crusaders, which he acquired for a lot of money, began the construction of a new temple. The Sainte-Chapelle became a unique reliquary that exalted Louis in the eyes of Western Christendom. None of the monarchs could boast of owning, for example, a particle of the Holy Cross taken from Constantinople. The collection of shrines kept in the Sainte-Chapelle was truly unique. It should be noted that the construction of the chapel itself cost Louis three times cheaper than the purchase of the crown of thorns stored in it. With their comparatively small sizes, the chapel is an excellent example gothic architecture. Its interior is richly decorated with lancet stained-glass windows and sculptural compositions. At first glance, it may seem that the temple consists entirely of colored stained-glass windows, and sophisticated high stone structures are the setting for them. In addition to the repository of relics, the Sainte-Chapelle was also a place of prayer for the royal family.

The chapel was badly damaged during the revolutionary years. Its interior decoration and most of the exhibits of the collection were looted and lost. Some of the sculptures were saved, and the crown of thorns is currently stored in Notre Dame de Paris. At the beginning of the 19th century, an archive was set up in the chapel, as a result of which some of the unique stained-glass windows of the lower tier were lost. IN last years The Sainte-Chapelle has undergone extensive restoration work that has restored its original appearance.

Hall of Warriors - La salle des Gardes

A unique example of secular Gothic architecture, the large-scale four-nave hall of the Warriors was built at the beginning of the 14th century and served as a banquet hall, and on ordinary, non-holiday days, the king's guards dined here. The total area of the hall is 2,000 square meters, and its high vaults are supported by 70 columns.

The vast space was heated by four fireplaces. From the hall you can directly get into the royal kitchen, where food was delivered by barges on the waters of the Seine, and served through a special window. The four hearths of this kitchen were intended for cooking certain types of products - meat was cooked on one of them, poultry on the other, the third served for cooking fish dishes, and vegetables were cooked on the fourth. On the "meat" hearth of the kitchen, two bull carcasses could be fried at the same time. In the hall of the Warriors, a part of the marble banquet table is displayed, at which more than 2,000 people could dine.

Today, only the first floor remains of the kitchen wing. It was built during the reign of Jean the Good in the second half of the 14th century.

The main purpose of the premises was to store products that came here from ships sailing along the Seine. Here was the staff serving the king.

Guard (Guards) Hall

The large royal chambers, in which the council met and fateful decisions were made, and in the revolutionary years numerous death sentences were passed, unfortunately, have not survived to this day. You can judge its scale by the surviving hallway, which is the Guard Hall.

The time of its construction coincides with the construction of the Hall of Warriors, it has the same Gothic style, but is much smaller than the banquet hall in size. Its area is 300 sq.m. The floor level of the lower medieval halls of the palace is much lower than the current ground level, the cultural layer of which has risen somewhat over the centuries since the foundation of the castle.

Paris street - La rue de Paris

One of the darkest places in the castle, named after the executioner named de Paris. Once this place was part of the Hall of Warriors, but in the 15th century, when the palace complex was finally turned into a prison, part of the banquet hall was fenced off.

In this dark part of the castle, the poorest prisoners who suffered from unsanitary conditions and diseases served their sentences.

Marie Antoinette's solitary cell

The legendary place where Marie Antoinette was imprisoned.

The interior of the solitary cell itself is recreated here, where you can see the figures of the queen sitting with her back, and two gendarmes constantly watching her. It is believed that he spent his last hours Robespierre.

Chapel of Marie Antoinette

Of the latest sights of the palace complex associated with revolutionary events, it should be noted the chapel of Marie Antoinette,

Corridor of prisoners

Also notable is the so-called "corridor of prisoners", which was the place independent walks prison inmates. There was also a special room where, before execution, all their personal belongings were taken from the condemned to the fund for supporting the revolution, and the hair on the back of the head was cut off for the convenience of the executioner. Also, for reasons of convenience, part of the hair of the convicts was left intact, so that it would be more convenient for the executioner to raise severed heads. In the corridor of prisoners there is a room for an overseer who monitored the movements of prisoners, compiled lists of those who were sent to execution and new arrivals.

The gloomy prison corridors and cells are decorated wax figures, depicting prisoners and overseers, which complement the already realistically recreated atmosphere of revolutionary terror.

You can see the hall built on the site of the royal prayer room, where in 1793 representatives of the Girondins feasted before the execution.

According to the tradition of revolutionary times, prisoners sentenced to death had the right to arrange a feast before execution. In memory of this, the hall is called the Girondins Chapel.

The "Women's Yard" of the prison with a fountain in the center has been preserved. Prisoners released for a walk washed their clothes in it. Here, the prisoners, after the verdict, were waiting for the carts, which in groups of 12 people took them to the place of execution.

In the prison corridors you can get acquainted with the list of prisoners of the Conciergerie, and there is also an exhibition of historical documents and other exhibits dedicated to five centuries of the history of the castle after it turned from a royal residence into a prison.

castle towers

The palace has four towers, each of which has its own history and keeps its secrets.

Bonbeck Tower

The oldest of the towers of the castle that have survived to our time - Bonbek - was built on north side palace wall during the reign of Saint Louis, in the 13th century. It is a characteristic example of a classic medieval crenellated tower and has a round shape. In the 15th century, when the palace had already become a prison, the crenellated top of the tower was supplemented with a gabled roof.

Bonbec became one of the darkest and most sinister places in the Conciergerie - there were torture chambers where various terrible tools were used on the prisoners in order to obtain a confession. The screams of the unfortunate being tortured echoed throughout the castle. This is probably where the name of the tower came from, which means “Good Beak” in Old French. It is believed that the prisoners were tortured until the songs necessary for justice began to flow from their "beaks". Also known is the translation of the name Bonbek as "Tattler Tower".

Having miraculously survived all subsequent restructurings, architectural transformations during the reign of Philip the Handsome, as well as natural disasters subsequent centuries, which greatly changed the appearance of the Conciergerie, the Bonbec tower retained its historical appearance almost unchanged.

Caesar's Tower and Silver Tower

The Tower of Caesar was built during the reconstruction and expansion of the castle buildings under Philip IV the Handsome, at the end of the 13th century, under the leadership of Enguerrand de Marigny. The massive round tower with a gabled roof was named after the famous Roman emperor, in memory of the Roman period in the history of Paris, when Gaul was part of the Empire. According to an unconfirmed version, the tower was built on the site of an ancient Roman residence.

Since the reconstruction of the castle under Philip IV was intended not only to make it one of the most luxurious palaces in Europe, but also to concentrate all the officials of France around the royal residence, the new buildings were supposed to accommodate administrative services. The Caesar's tower housed the archive of criminal cases, and meetings of advisers were held here, who passed verdicts and sentences in criminal cases. Later, the archive on criminal cases was moved to another location, closer to the Investigation Chamber.

Currently, at the Caesar's tower (on the left in the photo) is the entrance to the museum architectural ensemble Conciergerie. In the Middle Ages, the entrance to the castle was located between two twin towers - Caesar's Tower and the Silver Tower.

The Silver Tower, also built during the reign of Philip IV, is located to the right of the Caesar's tower, almost close to it. It also has a round shape, almost repeating the architecture of its neighbor. Once the northern facade of the castle, including its towers, was washed by the waters of the Seine, which made the castle even more impregnable. The embankment was built only in the 16th century.

The tower, according to legend, kept the royal treasury - hence the name "silver". However, she also had another, less romantic purpose. Being next to the Caesar's tower, where the archive for criminal cases was placed, the Silver Tower housed the main civil archive in terms of significance and volume. Other names of the tower: "Tower of Parliament", or "Tower of the Grand Chamber". Employees of both archives (for civil and criminal cases), considering their department more important than the neighboring one, called the institution entrusted to them simply “The Tower”, as if ignoring the presence of each other.

At present, the three round towers of the Conciergerie, with conical roofs, give the external appearance of the castle the image of an impregnable military stronghold, and the entire embankment - a kind of scenery for a medieval chivalric romance.

The latest and highest of the castle towers, the Clock Tower, was built in the second half of the 14th century. Its height is a little less than 50 m. This is the only Conciergerie tower that is not round, but rectangular in shape. Initially, it was crowned with a lantern, and later with a silver bell. The tower served as an observation post for the castle guard.

The clock appeared on it under Charles V, in 1370. To create them, a German watchmaker, Heinrich Wieck, was invited. It was the first public clock in Paris and became a symbol of the importance of observing the disciplinary norms of the service, since it was at this time that the castle ceased to be a royal residence, completely turned into an administrative institution and passed into the care of the concierge.

At the end of the 16th century, Henry III replaced the clock face with a new one, which was made by the famous master Germain Pilon. The clock was decorated with statues depicting Law and Justice. During the revolution, the figures were badly damaged, but then they were restored. The interior of the tower has changed several times during its existence.

The inscription on the dial reads: "This mechanism, dividing time into 12 equal and fair parts, teaches to protect Justice and defend the Law."

Tickets:

Adult: EUR 8.50

Child: 5.50 euros

Children under 18 are free of charge during a family visit, young people are EU members, but not French citizens, up to 26 years old, pensioners, people with disabilities.

How to get there

Address: 2 Boulevard du Palais, Paris 75001
Telephone: +33 1 53 40 60 80
Website: conciergerie.monuments-nationaux.fr
Metro: Cite
RER train: Saint-Michel-Notre-Dame
Working hours: 9:30-18:00

Ticket price

Adult: 9 €
Reduced: 7 €

Updated: 11/16/2018

The gloomy building of the Conciergerie stretched out along the quay of the Clock. Round towers with conical roofs look like a setting for a chivalric romance - a formidable battle castle in the middle of today's Paris. At first Royal Palace, and then prison - the Conciergerie played his evil role during the French Revolution and the Age of Terror. Located on the west side of the island of Cité, the Palais des Conciergerie began its existence as a royal residence called the Palais des Cités. This beautiful place was chosen by Philip IV in the early 14th century. He wanted to build a palace reflecting his wealth and grandeur. During the Middle Ages, the building was considered one of the greatest of its kind.

However, already at the end of the 14th century, Charles V changed his residence, moving to the Louvre. The Palais de la Cité (which also included the Chambers of Justice and the Sainte-Chapelle) eventually became the Conciergerie and was transferred to Parliament for royal administrative offices. The management of the palace was transferred to the Concierge, who also controlled the city police.

In 1391, the Conciergerie Palace became a prison that received both ordinary and political convicts. Wealthy prisoners were given the best cells in the former palace, while ordinary prisoners had to sleep in a dark, rat-infested dungeon, where they died very quickly from plague and other diseases. Several fragments of the Conciergerie have survived from the Middle Ages: the Silver Tower, which housed the royal treasury, the Caesar's tower, named after the Roman emperors, and the Bonbec Tower, where the torture chamber was located.

Conciergerie in the Age of Terror

The French Revolution (1789-1799) was one of the bloodiest periods in French history. During this period, the Conciergerie gained its infamous reputation as a place where prisoners waited to be sent to the guillotine. A revolutionary tribunal was also set up here to condemn the opponents of the French Revolution. According to the records, the Tribunal was held in Great Hall Conciergerie from April 1793 to May 1795, sending more than 2,600 prisoners to the guillotine. Ironically, the founder of the Tribunal, Maximilian Robespierre, was himself a prisoner of the Conciergerie and was beheaded in 1794. Marie Antoinette was also among the famous prisoners. In the photo below you can see her camera:

When the Revolution ended, the Conciergerie continued to be a place of detention for notorious prisoners, including Napoleon III. An extensive renovation of the palace took place in the mid-nineteenth century, including the conversion of Marie Antoinette's chamber into a chapel. The building was decommissioned in 1914 and opened to the public as a national historical monument. The Conciergerie remains a popular landmark in Paris, although access to much of the building is still limited.

Name Conciergerie came from office. A concierge was a nobleman who, after the kings moved to the Louvre, was entrusted with managing the former palace and collecting rent from the owners of shops, workshops and other, sometimes dubious establishments that rented premises in the building of the former palace. When the building was turned into a prison, the concierge collected a fee from the prisoners for the use of solitary cells and for renting furniture in them.

From here, in 1189, King Philip-Augustus set out on the third crusade, together with his relative and ally, the English king Richard I the Lionheart. And a century and a half before that, there lived the Queen of France, the daughter of the Grand Duke Yaroslav the Wise of Kyiv, Anna, the wife of Henry I.

Under Philip IV the Handsome, nicknamed the Iron King, the palace was expanded. The Hall of the Guardians was built in it - a vaulted room in the early Gothic style, and the grandiose Hall of the Armed with an area of about 2 thousand square meters. m. This incredible hall, completed in 1315, has a length of more than 70 meters. Its vaults are supported by 69 pilasters and columns. From the hall, a wide arched span leads to the palace kitchen, nicknamed a century later the Kitchen of St. Louis, although it was built under King Jean Good in 1350. The four corners of the kitchen are cut off by four fireplaces, in each of which two bulls were roasted on skewers.

In the two thousand-meter hall at the royal feasts, invited guests were seated at a U-shaped table of infinite length. The hall was at the same time a banquet hall, a throne room, and a ballroom: in it, having moved the tables to the walls, they danced a slow solemn pavane, and in between dances they listened to the singing of minstrels to the sounds of harps. The bulls for these dinners, like other supplies, were delivered along the Seine on barges and reloaded into the kitchen right through a special window with a block.

The Conciergerie towers are called Clock Tower, Bonbec, Caesar's and Silver. Behind the Bonbec tower, a passage opens into the premises of the Tribunal, where during the days of the Jacobin dictatorship the revolutionary tribunal sat.

The Conciergerie became a prison soon after the first kings of the Valois dynasty moved to the Louvre in the 1370s. But usually this new prison was empty: high-ranking prisoners were kept, as a rule, in the Bastille, and here they kept thieves and vagabonds, who in those days were less in prisons than noble prisoners. Of the state criminals, only non-nobles were kept here, and even then much later.

By an evil irony of fate, one of the first prisoners Conciergerie turned out to be Enguerrand de Marigny - the same one to whom Philip the Handsome entrusted the construction of a new palace. Under the heir Louis X the Quarrelsome, he fell out of favor and was executed in 1314. Count Gabriel de Montgomery, who mortally wounded Henry II, ended up in the Conciergerie a few years later for joining the Reformation movement and opposing Charles IX. Executed in 1574. Religious fanatic Francois Ravaillac went to prison two days after the assassination of Henry IV, he was tortured with "boots" - stocks. After the trial, he was publicly tortured and then quartered with the help of four horses. The famous poisoner Marie-Madeleine d'Aubrey, the Marquise de Brainvilliers, was tortured with water in 1676 and beheaded in the Place de Greve. The desperate robber Kartouche was sitting in the Montgomery tower, withstood torture with boots, but before being broken on the wheel, he betrayed his accomplices, including from the nobility. He was beheaded in 1721. Terrible torture endured by Robert Francois Damien for attempted assassination of Louis XV. He was quartered. After the trial, the Countess de Lamotte was burned with a red-hot iron “V” (French voluer - thief) for fraud and the story with the “Queen's Necklace”, publicly punished with rods and sent to the Salpêtrière prison, from where she escaped.

It was here that Marie Antoinette was imprisoned before her execution. By the way, the cell in which Marie Antoinette was held received another prisoner a year later. By a strange coincidence, it turned out to be Robespierre himself, who was thrown there wounded after the coup on 9 Thermidor. And in the same way, a creaking wagon from the iron gates of the Conciergerie took him to the same guillotine. When leaving the cell, the former dictator smashed his forehead against the lintel of the door: he forgot that, on his own orders, the lintel was specially made below the height of the tall Marie Antoinette, “to make the proud Austrian woman bow every time she enters and exits,” as Robespierre wrote in his decree.

But in the days of Robespierre, the social composition of the prison population changed. If back in 1790-91, during the first period of the revolution, a couple of dozen thieves played tag or leapfrog in a huge hall, as a contemporary writes, then in 1793 more than a thousand people were placed here. Nearby, in the Hall of Guardians, were the ladies. It was enough in those days to simply belong to the aristocracy for the doors of the Conciergerie to open wide before you. But they didn’t go out of here anymore, but only drove out in a huge creaking wagon, which drove over bridges and embankments, under the hooting of the mob, to the place where the guillotine stood that day. There were many squares and curious people in Paris, but there was only one guillotine, and it was regularly transported from place to place.

A list of 2,780 names of the beheaded can be seen on the wall of the Conciergerie Museum in the Tribunal's premises. The vice-president of the Revolutionary Tribunal Koffinal, a permanent judge and often a prosecutor in the same “trials”, personally sent two thousand of these 2780 people to the guillotine. But in addition to the guillotined, several dozen people died right in prison, when in September 1792 a crowd warmed up by the Jacobins burst into the courtyard. The intruders dragged out the first prisoners they came across in order to hang them right there. The guard, of course, was in no hurry to help the “enemies of the people”.

Before boarding the wagon, prisoners, especially women, had to pass through the Dressing Room. The last “toilet” was just a search, during which all the jewelry not taken during previous searches was taken away, then the women had their hair cut and their clothes were taken away, giving in return canvas robes. So Robespierre and his comrades have already invented what became the shame of the middle of the twentieth century. Only the scale was not the same ...