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124-692: The Place Dauphine was laid out in 1607–10, when the Place Royale was still under construction. It was among the earliest city-planning projects of Henri IV, and was on a site created from part of the western garden of the walled enclave known as the Palais de la Cité (because the Capetian kings had lived there long ago, before the Louvre was built). There had been a pavilion, the Maison des Etuves, located in

248-699: A (constitutional) monarchy and reintroduce the French Constitution of 1791 . The provisional government responded by taking a number of measures to defend the integrity of the Republic. Even in these circumstances, the Convention was initially reluctant to restore the Revolutionary Tribunal. On 10 March, responding to serious disorder in the streets of Paris, Georges Danton , with Robespierre's support, proposed its revival, but

372-596: A Palace servant who tried to kill Louis XV . Jeanne of Valois-Saint-Rémy , the Countess de la Motte, the central figure in the notorious Affair of the Diamond Necklace , who plotted to defraud Marie Antoinette , was held there, whipped, branded with a V for Voleur (thief), then transferred to the Saltpétriére Prison for a life sentence, but escaped a few months later. From the 14th through

496-530: A bell, the tocsin du palais ("alarm bell of the palace"), which rang for several days to announce major dynastic events such as the death of kings and birth of firstborn royal sons, and also rang the signal of the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre in 1572; it was removed and melted down in 1792 and replaced in 1848. On the Boulevard's side it is decorated with the namesake monumental clock, which

620-631: A chapel dedicated to Saint Nicholas . Further additions were made by Louis VI , with the help of his friend and ally, Suger , the Abbot of the Basilica of Saint-Denis . Louis VI finished the chapel of Saint Nicholas, demolished the old tower or donjon in the center, and built a massive new donjon, the Grosse Tour , 11.7 meters wide at the base, with walls three meters thick. This tower existed until 1776. His son, Louis VII (1120–1180) enlarged

744-415: A former state prosecutor, aided by a jury of twelve members. In the Convention, Robespierre had a new Law of Suspects passed, which deprived prisoners before the tribunal of most of their rights. There was no appeal to decisions of the tribunal, and sentences of death were carried out the same day. Among the first to be tried was Marie Antoinette , who had been held a prisoner for two and half months since

868-556: A last "banquet" in the chapel the night before their execution. Revolutionary Tribunal The Revolutionary Tribunal ( French : Tribunal révolutionnaire ; unofficially Popular Tribunal ) was a court instituted by the National Convention during the French Revolution for the trial of political offenders . In October 1793, it became one of the most powerful engines of the period often called

992-515: A long time. As soon as judgement was given, they were taken briefly to the parvis in front of the Cathedral of Notre Dame to have their confession heard, then to their execution on the Place de Greve . Notable prisoners held at the palace before their executions included Enguerrand de Marigny , the chancellor of Philip IV, who oversaw the construction of much of the palace, accused of corruption by

1116-525: A meager banquet with other prisoners that night. Soon the Tribunal tried anyone who opposed Robespierre. Jacques Hébert , Danton , Camille Desmoulins , and many others were brought before the Tribunal, judged and executed. So many opponents of Robespierre were arrested that the Tribunal began trying them in groups. By July 1794 an average of thirty-eight persons a day were judged and guillotined. Gradually, however, opposition grew against Robespierre, who

1240-473: A monumental stairway (the former grands degrés or Perron du Roi ) leading to a square-domed building decorated with four Tuscan columns topped by allegorical statues: from south to north, Abundance by Pierre-François Berruer , Justice and Prudence by Félix Lecomte , and Force by Berruer. Above them is a royal coat of arms supported by two winged genies, by sculptor Augustin Pajou . The design of

1364-569: A monumental stairway on the south side of the palace, and constructed a new building for the Chambre des comptes , the royal treasury. In 1585, Henry III added a sundial to the wall of the clock tower, and began the construction of the Pont Neuf , a new bridge to connect the island to the left and right banks of the Seine. In 1607, Henry IV gave up the royal garden at the end of the island and had

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1488-500: A much larger and more richly decorated assembly hall, the Grand'Salle which had a double nave, each covered with a high arched wooden roof. A row of eight columns in the center of the hall supported the wooden framework of the roof. On each of the pillars, and on columns around the walls, were placed polychrome statues of the kings of France. In the center of the hall was an enormous table made of black marble from Germany, used for banquets,

1612-496: A narrow door opened into a passage to an interior court with a steep staircase leading to two residential floors above. These were faced with brick and limestone quoins , chaînes, and tablets. At the top was an attic floor with a steep slate roof and dormers, similar to the Place Royale, except that each range at the Place Dauphine was covered by a single roof, and the dormers "gave no hint of separate houses". In fact, behind

1736-458: A new residential square, Place Dauphine , constructed on the site. In 1611, Louis XIII had the banks of the river around the island rebuilt of stone. In 1618, a major fire destroyed the Grand'Salle . It was reconstructed following the same plan by Salomon de Brosse in 1622. In 1630 another fire destroyed the spire of Sainte-Chapelle, which was replaced in 1671. In 1671, King Louis XIV , always short of money for his grandiose projects, followed

1860-463: A picturesque tower under which stands a monumental sundial with the 1913 sculpture Time and Justice by Jean Antoine Injalbert , bearing the Latin inscription HORA FUGIT STAT JUS ("time flies, the law remains"). Further east on the façade are four monumental statues (1914): Truth by Henri-Édouard Lombard , Law by André Allard, Eloquence by Raoul Verlet , and Clemency by Jules Coutan . On

1984-538: A prison until 1934. The Cour du Mai is the main open space of the palace. It was formerly accessible through a fortified gate and now borders the Boulevard du Palais  [ fr ] from which it is separated from an ornate iron fence by Master Bigonnet (1787, repaired in 1877). The current façades of the Cour du Mai date from the 1780s following the devastating fire of 1776. The main (western) front features

2108-493: A result of his criticisms he was expelled from the Jacobin Club. Later he was arrested, tried and executed together with Danton. On the eve of his execution, Danton expressed his regret for having advocated the Tribunal. "It was just a year ago that I was the means of instituting the Revolutionary Tribunal; may God and man forgive me for what I did then; but it was not that it might become the scourge of humanity." After

2232-462: A triangular square and a row of houses across from the base of the triangle on the eastern side of the rue de Harlay, with returns extending further east along the quais. There were two entrances to the square: one in the middle of the eastern range and the second at the western point, opening onto the Pont Neuf. The western ("downstream") gateway was formed by paired pavilions facing the bridge and

2356-680: Is found today. The west end of the island was residential, and was the site of the palace of the Roman prefects, or governors. The palace was a Gallo-Roman fortress surrounded by ramparts. In the year 360 AD, the Roman caesar Julian the Apostate was declared Emperor of Rome by his soldiers while he was resident in the city. Beginning in the 6th century, the Merovingian kings used the palace as their residence when they were in Paris. Clovis ,

2480-497: Is now the Île-de-France ; but through a policy of conquest and intermarriage, they began to expand the royal domain , and to transform the old Gallo-Roman fortress into a real palace. Robert the Pious , the son of Hugh Capet, who ruled from 996 to 1031, stayed in Paris more often than his predecessors. He rebuilt the fortress in particular to meet the demands of his third wife, Constance of Arles , for greater comfort. Robert reinforced

2604-455: The Cour du Mai , including that of the iron fence, was by Pierre Desmaisons  [ fr ] with the assistance of Jacques Denis Antoine and Joseph-Abel Couture  [ fr ] especially for interiors. Its side wings were rebuilt in the same style during the 1840s. To the immediate north of the Cour du Mai , the Boulevard du Palais borders the former main wing of

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2728-529: The Place du Carrousel , was then moved to the Place de la Revolution , and then again to the Place St Antoine and later to the Place du Trône-Renversé . As the Revolutionary Tribunal accelerated the pace of executions in Paris, it became impractical to have it in the city. The powers of the Revolutionary Tribunal were granted by the Convention, and there was only limited criticism of it. Royalists, émigrés and federalists were clearly opposed to

2852-515: The Reign of Terror . Early 1791 freedom of defence became the standard; any citizen was allowed to defend another. From the beginning, the authorities were concerned about this experiment. Derasse suggests it was a "collective suicide" by the lawyers in the Assembly. In criminal cases, the expansion of the right ... gave priority to the spoken word. By December 1791 deputies voted themselves

2976-582: The Tour Cesar and the Tour d'Argent , as well as a gallery connecting the palace to the Tour Bombec . The royal offices took their names from the different chambers, or rooms, of the palace; the Chambre des Comptes , chamber of the accounts, was the treasury of the kingdom, and the courts were divided between the Chambre civile and the Chambre criminelle . On the site of the old Salle de Roi he built

3100-716: The War in the Vendée and the War of the Pyrenees began; the population of the Austrian Netherlands were in insurrection against the French invasion. The situation was alarming. On the evening of 9 March, a crowd gathered outside the Convention, shouting threats and calling for the removal of all "traitorous" deputies who had failed to vote for the execution of the king. On 12 March 1793, a provisional Revolutionary Tribunal

3224-632: The storming of the Bastille , power passed to a new Constituent Assembly , which had little sympathy for the nobles of the Parlement of Paris. The Assembly put the Parlement on an indefinite vacation, and in 1790 the first elected mayor of Paris, Jean Sylvain Bailly , closed and sealed the offices of the Parlement. The Revolution took a more radical turn in August 1792, when the first Paris Commune and

3348-486: The trial and execution of her husband, Louis XVI . She was tried on October 16, 1793 and executed on the same day. On October 24, twenty Girondin members of the Convention were put on trial for conspiring against the unity of the new Republic , and immediately executed. Others brought before the Tribunal and executed included Philippe Égalité , a cousin of the King, who had voted for the King's execution (November 6); Bailly,

3472-638: The Île de la Cité in the Seine River in the centre of Paris, is a major historic building that was the residence of the Kings of France from the sixth century until the 14th century, and has been the center of the French justice system ever since, thus often referred to as the Palais de Justice . From the 14th century until the French Revolution , it was the headquarters of the Parlement of Paris . During

3596-404: The 15th century the hall was divided into smaller rooms and prison cells. The hall underwent many changes and restorations over the centuries. After a fire destroyed most of the upper hall in 1618, the architect Salomon de Brosse built a new hall, but made the error of not placing the new columns over the original columns in the lower level. This led in the 19th century to the collapse of part of

3720-554: The 15th century, the title belonged to Isabeau of Bavaria , the wife of King Charles VI . The palace gradually took its name from this official, and was called the Conciergerie . As early as the 14th century, the Palace was also used to confine important prisoners, since it was not necessary to transfer them from the city's major prison at Châtelet for trial. Furthermore, the palace had its own torture chambers, used to encourage

3844-402: The 18th century, the kings of France made many modifications to the palace, particularly to Sainte-Chapelle. In 1383, Charles VI replaced the spire of Sainte-Chapelle, and, at the end of the century, an oratory was built on the outside of the chapel against the south wall. From 1490 to 1495, Charles VIII installed a new rose window on the western façade of the chapel. In 1504, Louis XII added

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3968-566: The Committee of Public Safety or the Committee of General Security. This followed the news that rebels in Toulon had handed the city over to the British and several days of rioting in Paris. One of the earliest cases brought to the Tribunal led to its most famous acquittal. On 13 April 1793 Girondin deputés brought an accusation against Jean-Paul Marat . Crucially, this involved waiving

4092-597: The Count of Paris, was elected king of France on 3 July 987, and resided in the fortress when he was in Paris, but he and the other Capetian kings spent little time in the city, and had other royal residences in Vincennes, Compiègne and Orleans. The administration and archives of the kingdom travelled wherever the king went. At the beginning of the Capetian dynasty, the king of France ruled directly little more than what

4216-554: The Girondin leaders being tried and executed in October 1793. During the months when Montané served as its President, the Tribunal dealt with 178 accused. 53% of these were set free after initial examination by a judge, without a full trial, while a further 17% were tried and acquitted by a jury. 5% were convicted and sentenced to imprisonment or deportation, and 25% were sentenced to death. From its formation up to September 1793,

4340-453: The Grand'Salle, receptions for foreign monarchs, to preside over sessions of the Parlement of Paris , and to display the sacred relics at Saint-Chapelle for the veneration of the court. Until the 16th century, some of the kings made extended stays within the Palace. Nonetheless, the chief occupation of the palace became the administration of the treasury and especially of royal justice. It became

4464-403: The King died in 1314. Philip's successors made a few further additions; John II (1319-1364) constructed new kitchens on two levels northwest of the Grand'Salle, and built a new square tower. Later, his son, Charles V (1338-1380) installed a clock in the tower, and it became known as the Tour de l'Horloge . The Hundred Years War between England and France changed the history and function of

4588-508: The Palace visible today dates to the late 18th century. After a fire in 1776, Lous XVI had a section of Conciergerie prison rebuilt; During the French Revolution it served as the principal prison for political prisoners, including Marie Antoinette, before their trials and execution. The prison was extensively rebuilt in the 19th century, and many famous rooms, such as the original cell of Marie Antoinette, disappeared. However, part of

4712-545: The Palais de la Cité as of 2022. The palace was built and rebuilt many times over the course of many centuries, including following major fires in 1618, 1776 and 1871. Its salient medieval remains are the Sainte-Chapelle , a masterpiece of Gothic architecture , and the Conciergerie , an early-14th-century palatial complex that served as a prison from 1380 to 1914. Most of its other current structures were rebuilt from

4836-741: The Paris Commune in May 1871. It was replaced by a new grand hall, the Salle des Pas Perdu , of the Palace of Justice. During the Middle Ages the lower floor was used largely as a restaurant and holding area for the large staff of the Royal household; it could serve as many as two thousand persons. A large stairway, now walled off, connected the lower floor with the Grand'Salle. The Salle is 63.3 meters long, 27.4 meters wide, and 8.5 meters high. Beginning in

4960-540: The Parisii and other Celtic tribes on the island in 53 B.C., but no archeological evidence of the Parisii has been found there. However, after the Romans conquered the Parisii in the first century BC, the island was developed quickly. While the forum and largest part of the Roman town, called Lutetia , was on the left bank, a large temple was located on the east end of the island, where the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris

5084-558: The Place Dauphine was renamed Place Thionville, a name it retained until 1814. The former eastern range, heavily damaged by fire during the fighting of the Paris Commune of 1871, was swept aside to open the view toward the Palais de Justice . The Place Dauphine is: It is served by lines 4 and 7 . [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Notes Sources Palais de la Cit%C3%A9 The Palais de la Cité ( French pronunciation: [palɛ d(ə) la site] ), located on

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5208-664: The Revolution it served as a courthouse and prison, where Marie Antoinette and other prisoners were held and tried by the Revolutionary Tribunal . Since the early 19th century, it has been the seat of the Tribunal de grande instance de Paris , the Court of Appeal of Paris , and the Court of Cassation . The first of these moved to another Parisian location in 2018, while the other two jurisdictions remain located in

5332-454: The Revolution, the Revolutionary Tribunal met. It was connected with the hall above by a stairway in the southwest part of the hall, and by a second stairway in a tower which was demolished in the 19th century. It is one of the finest examples of medieval architecture in Paris. The hall is 22.8 meters long, 11.8 meters wide, and 6.9 meters high. The massive columns have decorative sculpture of combat of animals and narrative scenes. Two stairways on

5456-547: The Revolution, the Sainte-Chapelle had been turned into a storage vault for legal documents, and half of the stained glass removed. Between 1837 and 1863, a major campaign was begun to restore the chapel to its medieval splendor. At the same time, the Conciergerie and Palace of Justice underwent major changes. Between 1812 and 1819, architect Antoine-Marie Peyre  [ fr ] restored the vaulted ceiling of

5580-476: The Revolutionary Tribunal the jury was carefully selected from politically reliable activists). It had five judges, a public prosecutor, and two deputy prosecutors, all nominated by the Convention; and from its judgements, there was no appeal. Jacques-Bernard-Marie Montané became President of the Tribunal until he was replaced in his post on 23 August 1793 by M. J. A. Herman . Fouquier-Tinville served as public prosecutor. The lists of prisoners to be sent before

5704-700: The Seine. It was awarded the Grand Prix de l'Empereur as the greatest work of art produced in France in the decade. In 1871, in the final days of the Paris Commune , the Communards set the building on fire, destroying a large part of the interior. Restoration was undertaken by Joseph-Louis Duc. Duc also finished the Harlay façade, while architect Honoré Daumet completed the building of the Court of Appeals. After

5828-457: The Tribunal and its workings, but since public criticism in support of the monarchy in Paris or in the press would be regarded as treasonable, it barely existed. At the same time, there were periodic demands from Enragés and Hébertists that the Tribunal accelerate its work and condemn more of the accused. Among the first to speak up publicly against the Tribunal was Camille Desmoulins in his short-lived journal, " Le Vieux Cordelier ". As

5952-411: The Tribunal heard 260 cases and handed down 66 death penalties. As a result, it was criticized as ineffective by some Jacobins . The Law of Suspects (17 September 1793) greatly increased the number of prisoners who were imprisoned and might be brought to trial. Between October and the end of 1793 the Tribunal issued 177 death sentences. Similar tribunaux révolutionnaires were also in operation in

6076-577: The beginning of 1793 to the Thermidorian Reaction , around 17,000 people were sentenced and beheaded by some form of revolutionary court in France (in Paris or in the provinces), in addition to some 25,000 others who were summarily executed in the September Massacres, retributions in the War in the Vendée and elsewhere. The Paris Revolutionary Tribunal was responsible for 16% of all death sentences. Of all those accused by

6200-452: The ceremonial courtyard, The new wall, more that of a palace than a fortress, had two large gates and echauguettes , or small elevated posts for watchmen at the angles of the wall. He restored the Salle d'Eau, extended the logos de Roi , or royal residence further south, built a new building for Chambre des comptes, or royal treasury, and enlarged the garden. The works were almost complete when

6324-598: The city, "liberty" (the revolution), maintain order in the sections and educate the members in democratic principles; an idea promoted by Jean-Jacques Rousseau . The provisional Revolutionary Tribunal was established on 17 August 1792 in response to the Storming of the Tuileries , to ensure that there was some appropriate legal process for dealing with suspects accused of political crimes and treason, rather than arbitrary killing by local committees. The provisional Tribunal

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6448-451: The city, while lower officials and servants lived within the Palace. The household of the King at the time of Philip IV numbered about three hundred persons; counting the servants of the Queen and of the King's children, the number grew to about six hundred. Philip made several further major changes to the palace. He reconstructed the south wall, and moved the wall on the east side to enlarge

6572-426: The corner with the Boulevard du Palais stands a turret, with the street-level door bearing the monumental inscription GLADIUS LEGIS CUSTOS ("the sword guards the law"). The façade bears impacts from the time of the liberation of Paris in August 1944, from a prolonged stalemate between German forces positioned on the Boulevard du Palais and Resistance fighters on the left bank. The Sainte Chapelle

6696-565: The country, particularly in the South East, as anti-Jacobin mobs attacked and murdered people who had been associated with revolutionary tribunals in their area. On 14 February 1795 for example, Joseph Fernex , who had served as a judge on the Tribunal in Orange , was killed and thrown into the Rhône by a mob. On 27 June other members of the same tribunal received the same treatment. From

6820-433: The coup of Thermidor in July 1794, some people expected the Revolutionary Tribunal to be abolished, but this did not happen. In the five days after the Thermidorian Reaction, the Convention freed 478 political prisoners, but 8,000 still remained incarcerated, despite popular demands for a general amnesty. On 1 August 1794 (14 Thermidor Year II) the Prairial Laws were revoked, meaning that the burden of proof against suspects

6944-401: The court itself, but the Convention would control the caseload through deputies elected to a commission de six . Cases would then be presented to the court by an accusateur public (public prosecutor) helped in his work by two deputies, and jurors would decide on the guilt or innocence of defendants. The judges would then invoke punishments in accordance with the 1791 Penal Code... Early March

7068-408: The crisis around the same time included the formal establishment of a Revolutionary Watch Committee in every neighbourhood and the creation of the Committee of Public Safety on 6 April 1793. The court was to hear cases of alleged counter-revolutionary offences from across France. It was composed of a jury of twelve. This was an innovation in French justice, borrowed from English law (although for

7192-434: The death of Duc 1879, Honoré Daumet took over the project. The Palais de Justice was substantially completed in 1914, just before the beginning of the First World War in 1914, The final section to be finished being the Tribunal Correctionel (criminal court) on the southern side. The Conciergerie was declared a national historical monument in 1862, and some rooms were opened to the public in 1914. It continued to function as

7316-409: The earlier practice of Henry IV at Place Dauphine, and began dividing excess land around the palace into lots for new building. By the 18th century, the palace was completely surrounded by private houses and shops built right up against its walls. In the late 17th and 18th centuries, the palace was struck by a series of natural catastrophes. The River Seine rose during the winter of 1689-1690, flooding

7440-452: The executioner. The Chapel of the Girondins is one chamber that has changed little since the Revolution. It was constructed after the 1776 fire on the site of medieval oratory of the Palace. In 1793 and 1794, when the prison was overcrowded, it was converted to prison cells. It took its name from the Girondins , a Revolutionary faction of deputies who opposed the more radical Montagnards of Robespierre . The Deputies were arrested and held

7564-398: The facades, the houses themselves, built by separate buyers, varied with regard to plan and area. Since its construction, almost all of the houses surrounding the square have been raised in height, given new facades, rebuilt, or replaced with imitations of the originals. Only two retain their original appearance, those flanking the entrance facing the Pont Neuf. In 1792 during the Revolution

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7688-461: The first elected Mayor of Paris; (November 11), and Madame du Barry , a favorite of the King's grandfather, Louis XV (December 8). Prisoners rarely spent a long time in the Conciergerie; most were brought there a few days or at the most a few weeks before their trial. There were as many as six hundred prisoners there at a time; a small number of wealthy prisoners were given their own cells, but most were crowded into large common cells, with straw on

7812-437: The floor. At dawn the cell doors were opened the prisoners were allowed to exercise in the courtyard or in the corridors. Women prisoners went to a separate courtyard with a fountain, where they could wash their clothes. Prisoners gathered at the foot of Bonbec Tower each evening to hear the guards read the names of those who would be brought before the Tribunal the next day. Those whose names were announced were traditionally given

7936-440: The following day, guillotined. After most of those associated with the previous radical government had been eliminated, the Revolutionary Tribunal was finally discontinued on 31 May 1795 (12 Prairial Year III). While the Convention itself had most people associated with the Revolutionary Tribunal in Paris executed, no similar official process was followed in the provinces. In 1795, the First White Terror broke out in parts of

8060-452: The former minister of war, but also Marat and Robespierre. Dumouriez had long been unable to agree with the course of the Convention. He was disenchanted with the radicalisation of the revolution and its politics and put an end to the annexation efforts. The Revolutionary Tribunal was re-established at a time of crisis in the new French Republic . The War of the First Coalition was going badly. An unsatisfied Dumouriez wanted to restore

8184-415: The garden's western wall which overlooked two riverine islets, scarcely more than mudbanks at the time. One islet was incorporated into filled land which extended the Île de la Cité to the west to form the middle section, the terre-plein , of the Pont Neuf (completed in 1606) and, on the downstream side of the bridge, a platform supporting an equestrian statue of Henri IV (installed in 1614). The second islet

8308-421: The headquarters of the Parlement of Paris, which was not a legislative body but a high court of the nobility. The Parlement registered all royal decrees, and was the court of appeals for the nobility from decisions of royal tribunals. It met in the Grand'Chambre , with the king presiding. The management of the Palace became the responsibility of the Concierge, a high court official named by the king. At one point in

8432-423: The immunity enjoyed until then by members of the Convention (Marat was himself a deputé). Not only did the case against Marat collapse, but two days after his case was brought, members of the Paris Commune responded by bringing a case to the Tribunal against 22 leading Girondins. This case was dismissed, but the principle that Convention members could be tried by the Tribunal was an important one, and ultimately led to

8556-404: The king of the Franks , lived in the palace from 508 until his death in 511. The kings who followed him, the Carolingians , moved their capital to the eastern part of their empire, and paid little attention to Paris. At the end of the 9th century, after a series of invasions by the Vikings threatened the city, King Charles the Bald had the walls rebuilt and strengthened. Hugh Capet (941-996),

8680-409: The king's successor, Louis X ; Gabriel de Lorges, Count of Montgomery , whose lance fatally wounded Henry II during a tournament, who was later accused of advocating religious reforms and disobedience to King Charles IX ; François Ravaillac , the assassin of Henry IV ; Marie-Madeleine d'Aubray, the marquise of Brinvilliers , a famous poisoner; the bandit Cartouche ; and Robert-François Damiens ,

8804-402: The late 18th to early 20th centuries. The Conciergerie and Sainte-Chapelle can be visited via separate entrances. Archeological excavations have found traces of human habitation on the Île de la Cité from 5000 BC until the beginning of the Iron Age , but no evidence that the Celtic inhabitants, the Parisii , used the island as their capital. Julius Caesar recorded meeting with the leaders of

8928-456: The law cancelled all previous legislation on the same subject. Without being explicit, this removed the immunity of members of the Convention which up till then had protected them from summary arrest and required that the Convention itself vote to send any of its members to trial. Three days after the Prairial laws were passed, the guillotine was moved out of Paris. It had previously stood on

9052-674: The laws"). To the south of the Cour du Mai 's fence, a plaque marks the former location of the Chapelle Saint-Michel (Saint Michael's Chapel) which gave its name to the nearby Pont Saint-Michel and, across the Seine, the Place Saint-Michel and Boulevard Saint-Michel , and was the headquarters of the Order of Saint Michael from 1470 to 1555 or 1557, when it was transferred to the Château de Vincennes . On

9176-618: The leader of the Christian world . Between 1242 and 1248, on the site of the old chapel, Louis built Sainte-Chapelle to hold the sacred relics he had acquired in 1238 from Baldwin II, Latin Emperor at Constantinople , including the reputed crown of thorns and wood from the cross of the Crucifixion of Christ . The chapel had two levels; the lower level for ordinary servants of the king, and

9300-512: The location of the Hotel du Bailliage ("Bailiwick Mansion") that had also been burnt down in 1871. The eastern wing is a separate building that was built from 1907 to 1914 as the last major phase of the complex's expansion, replacing demolished private houses on the Quai des Orfevres that were expropriated in 1904. Designed by architect Albert Tournaire  [ fr ] , its western end features

9424-418: The majority of deputés were not in favour. After a long debate, towards midnight, Danton was able to persuade a majority to vote for it only by raising the spectre of further uncontrolled massacres, as had taken place the previous September. If the Convention did not agree to create the Tribunal, he argued, the people would be compelled to make their own justice. "Let us be terrible," said Danton, "so that

9548-536: The more radical Montagnards , led by Robespierre . On March 10, 1793, Convention, over the opposition of the Girondins, ordered the creation of a Revolutionary Tribunal , with its headquarters in the Conciergerie. The tribunal met in the ‘’Grand’Salle’’, where the Parlement of Paris had held its meetings, which was renamed the ‘’Salle de la Liberte’’. It was headed by Antoine Quentin Fouquier-Tinville ,

9672-508: The most important monuments of Medieval art in Paris. The chapel was turned into a storage depot for court documents from the palace of Justice after the Revolution, but was carefully restored during the 19th century. The two halls in the lower part of the Conciergerie, the Salle des Gardes (Hall of the Guards) and the Salle des Gens d'armes (Hall of the Men at Arms), along with the kitchens, are

9796-532: The north side of the hall lead up to the towers of Argent and Cesar where prison cells were located. During the Revolution, the apartment of the chief prosecutor of the Terror, Fouquier-Tinville, was on the upper floor, and his office was in the Tower of Cesar. The Salle des Gardes was filled with prison cells until the mid-19th century, when the hall was restored to its original appearance. The Salle des Gens d'armes

9920-586: The northern side facing the Seine , the building is framed by a succession of medieval towers and 19th-century façades: Most of the Western front is a monumental composition designed from 1847 by Joseph-Louis Duc and Etienne Theodore Dommey for the Cour d'assises , built from 1857 to 1868, then repaired after the 1871 fire and finally inaugurated in 1875. It faces Place Dauphine , whose early-17th-century eastern side

10044-600: The old Salle des Gens d'Armes, and also, at the request of the restored King Louis XVIII , built an expiatory chapel where the cell of Marie-Antoinette had been. Between 1820 and 1828, he built a new façade for the Conciergerie along the Seine between the Tour de l'Horloge and the Tour Bonbec. In 1836, a new entrance was to the Conciergerie was made between the Tour d'Argent and the Tour César. A comprehensive plan for

10168-471: The old walls and added fortified gates; the main entrance, most likely, was on the north side. The walls surrounded a rectangle 130 meters long and 110 meters wide. Within the walls Robert had constructed the Salle de Roi , the meeting room for the Curia Regis , the assembly of nobles and for the royal council. To the west of this building he built his own residence, the chambre de Roi . Finally, he built

10292-411: The only surviving rooms of the original Capetian palace. When they were built, the two halls were at street level, but over the centuries, as the island was built up to prevent floods, they were below the street. The Salles des Gardes was built at the end of the 13th and beginning of the 14th century, as the ground floor of the Grand'Chambre , where the king conducted judicial hearings, and where, during

10416-556: The oratory from the 12th century, and many new prison cells were constructed, which were to play a notorious role in the French Revolution. In the turbulent years before the French Revolution , one important center of opposition to the authority of the king, the Parlement of Paris , was found within the Conciergerie. In May, 1788, the nobles, who met in the Grand’Salle of the Conciergerie, refused to allow Louis XVI to launch an investigation of one of their members. In July, 1789, after

10540-458: The palace and causing considerable damage, including the destruction of the stained glass windows on the lower level of Sainte-Chapelle. In 1737, a fire destroyed the Cour de Comptes. The reconstruction of the building was accomplished by Jacques Gabriel , the father of Ange-Jacques Gabriel , architect of the Place de la Concorde . An even more serious fire occurred in 1776, causing serious damage to

10664-459: The palace, eventually led to conflict between the royal government and the nobles, who had their own high court, the Parlement of Paris . To make room for his growing bureaucracy, and to create residences for the Chanoines or Canons , who managed the religious establishment, he had the southern wall of the palace demolished and replaced with housing. On the north side of the palace, just outside

10788-463: The palace. King John II was taken hostage by the English. In 1358 the leader of the Paris merchants, Etienne Marcel , led an uprising against royal authority. His soldiers invaded the palace, and, in the presence of the King's son, the future Charles V , they killed the King's counselors, Jean de Conflans and Robert de Clermont. The rebellion was abandoned and Marcel was killed, but when Charles V took

10912-420: The palace. The palace later took its name from this position. Philip also greatly improved the air and aroma around the palace by having the muddy streets around it paved with stone. These were the first paved streets in Paris. The grandson of Philip Augustus, Louis IX (1214-1270), later known as Saint Louis, built a new shrine within the palace walls to demonstrate that he was not just king of France, but also

11036-656: The people will not have to be." On this basis, the Convention finally agreed that there should be established in Paris the Extraordinary Criminal Tribunal ( Tribunal criminel extraordinaire ), which received the official name of the Revolutionary Tribunal by a decree of 29 October 1793. Robespierre became one members of the Committee of General Defence to coordinate the war effort. Danton, Charles-Francois Delacroix , Beurnonville and several other deputies were sent to Belgium to question and arrest Dumouriez. Other measures taken in response to

11160-497: The political leaders who had taken an active part in what was eventually called the Reign of Terror. On 16 December 1794 (26 Frimaire Year III) Jean-Baptiste Carrier was sentenced to death and executed. On 6 May 1795 (17 Floreal Year III), the former President of the Revolutionary Tribunal, Martial Herman , the former Chief Prosecutor Fouquier-Tinville and fourteen former jury members of the Revolutionary Tribunal were convicted, and

11284-529: The power to select the judges, jury and accusateur public . On 15 February 1792 the Tribunal Criminel was installed with Maximilien Robespierre as accusateur . On 10 April Robespierre decided to give up his position and became an ordinary citizen who published a magazine. Along with other Jacobins, he urged in the fifth issue of his magazine the creation of an " armée révolutionnaire " in Paris, consisting of at least 20 or 23,000 men, to defend

11408-412: The prison was restored for the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution in 1989 and can be seen by visitors. The Rue de Paris was a section of the Salle des gardes which was separated by a grill from the rest of the hall during the 15th century. During the Revolution it was used as a common cell for prisoners when all the other cells were full. It took its name from "Monsieur Paris", the nickname for

11532-434: The rapid confessions of prisoners. By the 15th century the palace was one of the major prisons of Paris. The entrance of the prison was located on the main courtyard, the Cour du Mai , named for the tree that the clerks of the palace traditionally placed there every spring. The prison cells were located in the lower floors of the palace and in the towers, where the torture was also conducted. Prisoners were rarely kept there for

11656-496: The remaining vestiges of the old palace, including what remained of the Logis du Roi and the Salle sur l'eau, and the construction of the new building for the Cour de Cassation. Under Emperor Napoleon III , the western section was reconstructed between 1857 and 1868 by Joseph-Louis Duc and Honoré Daumet . The exterior includes sculptural work by Jean-Marie Bonnassieux . It was opened in October 1868 by Baron Haussmann , prefect of

11780-406: The remodeling of the Palais de la Cité was designed from 1835 by architect Jean-Nicolas Huyot , who started its execution until his death in 1840. This was continued mainly by Joseph-Louis Duc assisted first by Etienne Theodore Dommey (1801-1872) and, from 1867, by Honoré Daumet who upon Duc's death in 1879 succeeded him as the complex's chief architect. The plan entailed the demolition of some of

11904-519: The residence of the King, the Grosse Tour, and the buildings around the Cour de Mai. In the reconstruction, the old Treasury of Chartres, the Grosse Tour and the eastern wall of the palace were demolished. A new face, the present façade, was given to what became known as the Palace of Justice ; a new gallery was built at Sainte-Chapelle; a new chapel was constructed inside the Conciergerie to replace

12028-410: The roof of the lower hall, which was rebuilt with additional columns. In the 19th century windows were also added on the north side looking out at the courtyard. The circular stairway in the northeast corner of the Salle, built in the medieval style, was constructed in the 19th century during the reign of Napoleon III , who had briefly been held a prisoner himself in the building. The prison quarter of

12152-524: The royal archives, the treasury and courts within Palais de la Cité, and thereafter the city functioned, except for brief periods, as the capital of the kingdom. In 1187 he welcomed the English king, Richard the Lion-Heart , to his palace. The court records show the creation of a new official position, the Concierge, who was responsible for the administration of the lower and mid-level law courts within

12276-430: The royal residence and added an oratory ; the lower floor of the oratory later became the chapel of the present Conciergerie . The entrance to the palace at this time was on the eastern side, on the Cour du Mai , where a grand ceremonial stairway was constructed. The western point of the island was transformed into a walled garden and orchard. Philip-Augustus (1180-1223) modernized the royal administration, and placed

12400-508: The royal residence of the 14th century, with the Salle des Gens d'Armes on the ground floor (now slightly below the Boulevard's level) and the Salle des Pas-Perdus (formerly the Grande Salle ) on the first floor. At the complex's northeastern corner stands the 47-meter tall Tour de l'Horloge ("Clock Tower") built around 1353 under King John II . At the top of the tower was

12524-428: The so-called " Prairial Laws " were passed. These limited trials in the Revolutionary Tribunal to three days. They also prevented the Revolutionary Tribunal from calling witnesses, or from allowing defense counsel. Juries were to convict or acquit entirely on the basis of the accusation and the accused's own defense. Further, the new laws confined the Tribunal to only two possible verdicts – acquittal or death. Finally,

12648-553: The stairs and represent public force are by Isidore Bonheur (1866). On the façade's extremities are two bas-relief medallions of the great code creators, respectively Napoleon for the Napoleonic Code and Justinian I for the Code of Justinian . The southern façade is made of two distinct wings. The western wing was designed by Émile Gilbert and his son-in-law Arthur-Stanislas Diet , and built between 1875 and 1880 on

12772-406: The statue of Henri IV on its other side. The last of the houses to be constructed (at the southeast corner of the square) was finished in 1616. Originally all were built with more or less the specified facades, which were similar to those at the Place Royale, although the houses were more modest. Each repeating unit comprised on the ground floor two arcaded shopfronts dressed with stone between which

12896-399: The taking of oaths, meetings of military high courts, and other official functions. A fragment of the table still exists, and is on display in the Conciergerie. The Grand'Salle was used for royal banquets, judicial proceedings, and theatrical performances. At the west end of the island, where Place Dauphine is today, was a walled private garden, a bath house where the King could bathe in

13020-650: The throne in 1364, he decided to move his residence a safe distance from the center of the city. He built a new residence, the Hôtel Saint-Pol , in the Marais quarter, close to the safety of the Bastille fortress; and later the Louvre Palace and then the Château de Vincennes became the royal residences. The kings of France did not entirely abandon the palace. They returned frequently for ceremonies in

13144-457: The top, QVI DEDIT ANTE DVAS TRIPLICEM DABIT ILLE CORONAM ("He [God] Who already gave [King Henry III ] two crowns [of Poland in 1573 and France in 1574] will give [him] a [heavenly] third one"); at the bottom, MACHINA QVÆ BIS SEX TAM JVSTE DIVIDIT HORAS JVSTITIAM SERVARE MONET LEGES QVE TVERI ("This machine that so justly divides twelve hours teaches to maintain Justice and to watch over

13268-472: The tribunal were prepared by a popular commission and signed, after revision, by the Committee of General Security and the Committee of Public Safety jointly. On 5 September 1793, the Convention split the Revolutionary Tribunal into four concurrent chambers so that the number of cases it dealt with could be greatly increased. It also decided that all jurors in the Tribunal should be directly appointed by

13392-412: The tribunals in the provinces closed and all the trials held in Paris. The provincial tribunals which were allowed to continue their work were Bordeaux, Arras, and Nîmes in the south, as well as Arras and Cambrai in the north. Following the attempted assassinations of Convention members Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois on 23 May and Maximilien Robespierre on 25 May 1794, on 10 June (22 Prairial Year II)

13516-495: The upper level for the king and royal family. The upper chapel was connected directly to the King's residence by a covered passage, called the Galerie Merciére . Only the King was allowed to touch the crown of thorns, which he took out each year on Good Friday . Louis IX also created several new offices to manage the finances, administration and judicial system of his growing kingdom. This new bureaucracy, housed within

13640-447: The various French departments. However, on 16 April 1794 (27 Germinal Year II) the Convention approved a report by Saint-Just proposing the abolition of the existing revolutionary tribunals in individual départements and requiring all suspects to be sent to the main tribunal in Paris, due to reports of corruption in the provincial tribunals. On 21 May 1794 the government decided that the judicial system would be centralized, with almost all

13764-446: The walls to the Tour Bonbec, he built a new ceremonial hall, the Salle sur l'eau . Philip IV (1285-1314) and his Chamberlain, Enguerrand de Marigny , reconstructed, enlarged and embellished the palace. On the north side, he expropriated land belonging to the dukes of Brittany and constructed new buildings for the Chambre des Enquetes , which supervised public administration; the Grand'Chambre , another high court; and two new towers,

13888-462: The water of the river, and a dock, from which the King could travel by boat to his other residences, the Louvre fortress on the right bank and the Tour de Nesle on the left bank. The lower floor beneath the Grand'Salle contained the Salle des Gardes for the soldiers who protected the King, as well as the dining room for the household of the King, including officers, clerks, court officers and servants. High court officials had their own houses in

14012-546: The ’’ Sans-culottes ’’ seized the Tuileries Palace and arrested the King. In September, the ‘’sans-Culottes’’ massacred 1,300 prisoners in four days, including those held in the Conciergerie, who were killed in the ‘’Cour des Femmes’’, the yard where women prisoners were allowed to exercise. The new revolutionary government of the Convention was soon divided into two factions, the more moderate Girondins and

14136-477: Was abolished in November 1792 at the start of the trial of Louis XVI , and during this time had sentenced twenty-eight people to death. Mostly these were ordinary criminals rather than political prisoners. It incorporated elements from the reformed criminal justice system of 1791 as well as features with a more 'extraordinary' or 'revolutionary' potential. A bench of five judges would be responsible for running

14260-490: Was abolished on May 7, 1795, after having put to death 2,780 persons in 718 days. Following the Revolution, the Palace became the headquarters of the judicial system of France, but also continued its vocation as a prison. During the Consulate of Napoleon Bonaparte , the rebel Georges Cadoudal was imprisoned there until his execution in 1804. After Napoleon's downfall, one of his most famous generals, Marshal Michel Ney ,

14384-491: Was accused of wishing to be a dictator. He was arrested on July 28, 1794, after trying unsuccessfully to shoot himself. He was taken to the infirmary of the Conciergerie, then, a few hours later, tried by the Tribunal, and executed on the Place de la Revolution. The chief of the Tribunal, Fouquier-Tinville, was arrested, and after nine months in prison in the Conciergerie, was also executed on May 9, 1795. The Revolutionary Tribunal

14508-562: Was constructed by King Lous IX , later known as Saint Louis, between 1241 and 1248 to keep the holy relics of the Crucifixion of Christ obtained by Louis, including what was believed to be the Crown of Thorns . The lower level of the chapel served as the parish church for the residents of the palace. The upper level was used only by the king and royal family. The stained glass windows of the upper chapel, about half of them original, are one of

14632-539: Was demolished in 1874 to free up space in front of the new building. The style of its decoration is neo-Classical, but the overall design was inspired by Ancient Egyptian architecture and specifically by the façade of the Dendera Temple complex . The monumental statues are, from north to south: Prudence and Truth by Auguste Dumont , Punishment and Protection by François Jouffroy , and Force and Equity by Jean-Louis Jaley . The stylized lions that guard

14756-537: Was established; three days later the Convention appointed Fouquier-Tinville as the " accusateur public " and Fleuriot-Lescot as his assistant. On 11 March, Dumouriez addressed the Brussels assembly, apologising for the actions of the French commissioners and soldiers. On 12 March Dumouriez criticised the interference of officials of the War Ministry which employed many Jacobins. He attacked not only Pache ,

14880-420: Was imprisoned there before his execution in 1815, as was Napoleon's nephew, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte , the future Napoleon III , after his failed attempt to overthrow King Louis Philippe . The anarchists Giuseppe Fieschi and Felice Orsini , who tried respectively to kill Louis-Philippe and Napoleon III, were both imprisoned there, as was another famous anarchist, Ravachol , who was executed in 1892. During

15004-491: Was once again with the prosecution. Soon afterwards, all of the judges on the Revolutionary Tribunal were replaced, and the local surveillance committees were curtailed, so that there were henceforth to be only twelve in Paris and one per district outside the capital. The Law on Suspects however remained in force. The Revolutionary Tribunal was used by the Thermidorian Convention as an instrument to destroy

15128-415: Was removed. The Place Dauphine was to occupy the western part of the garden and the vacant land which had been created between it and the bridge. Approximately 3 acres of land was conveyed to Achille de Harlay on 10 March 1607 with instructions to execute a project according to a general plan in which the houses would adhere to a specified and repetitious facade. The development consisted of two components:

15252-507: Was the first public clock in Paris, made by Henri de Vic  [ fr ] in 1370-1371. The clock was redecorated in 1585-1586 by Germain Pilon and restored several times since then, most heavy-handedly in 1849-1852 by Armand Toussaint following heavy damage during the French Revolution, and again in 1909, 1952, and most recently in 2012. It bears two monumental inscriptions in Latin : at

15376-458: Was the ground floor below the magnificent Grand'Salle , where the kings of France held banquets to welcome royal guests, and to celebrate special events, such as the visit of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor in 1378, hosted by Charles V shortly before he moved out of the palace, and the marriage of Francis II with Mary, Queen of Scots . The hall itself, with a high double-vaulted wooden roof, burned several times, most recently in fires started by

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