Palace of the Conciergerie Paris. Conciergerie Museum and Castle in Paris: tickets and reviews

The history of this gloomy and majestic structure on the banks of the Seine dates back to the 6th century, when Clovis, the king of the Franks, decided to build his residence in Paris, namely on the Ile de la Cité. True, he did not live there long and after the death of the king, the castle was empty for some time.

But already in the 10th century, the French king returned to Paris and the castle again became his residence. Today it is not known exactly what the castle looked like in its original form. Over the centuries, it was regularly rebuilt by monarchs, and just as often it suffered from devastating fires. In the 14th century, the history of the Conciergerie as a royal palace ended after a popular uprising occurred and the new king Charles V moved his residence to the Louvre.

Ceasing to be a royal palace, the Conciergerie becomes part of the Palace of Justice, which to this day houses some municipal services and the prosecutor's office. And the king, having left his previous residence, left some part of his administration in the same place, entrusting the performance of many functions to his concierge. This is where the current name of the Conciergerie Castle comes from.

During the French Revolution, the notorious prosecutor Fouquet-Tinville sentenced to death over two years more than 2,700 people who awaited their last hour outside the walls of the Conciergerie. Among ordinary citizens there were writers, aristocrats, scientists, they were kept in terrible conditions, several hundred people in one cell. The most famous prisoners of the prison were Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, who went to the scaffold 9 months after her husband. And Robespierre, the founder of the reign of terror, spent his last days here. Today their cells are open to the public.

The best view of the Conciergerie opens from the opposite bank of the Seine, from and a little further away from the Pont Neuf. Currently we can see three large towers of the castle. The rectangular clock tower on the corner of the building is where the first Parisian city clock appeared in 1370. The next round one is Caesar's Tower, and behind it is the Silver Tower, where the royal treasures were once kept. Inside the palace there are three well-preserved Gothic-style halls, as well as many small rooms. The first one that the visitor enters after entering is the Guardroom, followed by a huge one, with an area of ​​about 1800 sq. m. the Ratnikov Hall, where there are concerts these days. From it you can get to the kitchen outbuilding where the royal servants were housed.

Only in 1914 The Conciergerie ceased to be a prison, the palace was given the status of a historical monument, after which it was opened to the public.
The video below shows a general view from the opposite bank, the Gothic Hall of Warriors, one of the prison cells and the courtyard.
Address: 1 Quai de l'Horloge

Where is: quai de l"Horloge, 1, m. Cite
How does it work: from April to September 9.30-18.30, from October to March 10.00-16.30, closed on holidays. Login with bd. du Palais.
Ticket price: € 6.10, you can buy a single ticket for visiting the Conciergerie and Sainte-Chapelle - € 10.

Story
In those days when Gaul was a province of the Roman Empire, the residence of the legates was located on the Isle of Cité. Later, Philip II Augustus ordered the construction of a royal castle on its site, which was subsequently rebuilt and expanded by Saint Louis. Further reconstruction was carried out by his grandson Philip the Fair, who built that part of the royal palace, which is now called the Conciergerie. From the time of Saint Louis and Philip the Fair, the following have been preserved:
- Hall of the guards,
- Hall of the Guard,
- Caesar's Tower, so named in memory of Roman times,
- Silver Tower (they say royal treasures are hidden in it),
- Bonbek Tower (the name can be translated as “powerful beak”; there was a torture chamber here),
- Paris street.

In the middle of the 14th century. Charles V the Wise moved to the Palace of Saint-Paul, placing the Conciergerie at the disposal of the Parisian Parliament (the highest court where it was possible to appeal against the court decisions of the feudal lords), the Court of Auditors (the highest financial body of the kingdom) and the royal council. In addition to the government structures, a prison was located within the walls of the castle.

In order to maintain order, manage the building and inform the king, Charles V created a special position - concierge. The official who occupied it had great power and numerous privileges, but was obliged to permanently live in the palace itself. He received income from renting premises to hairdressers, wine merchants, silver and gold dealers. When the Conciergerie became a prison in the 14th century, he received money for renting prison furniture to prisoners.

Around 1350, a rectangular watchtower was built in the north-eastern corner of the palace, on which the first ones in France were installed watch. In 1585 they were replaced by a clock with a colorful dial framed by bas-reliefs with allegorical images of Law and Justice. The mechanism still works properly to this day.

After the fall of the monarchy, the Conciergerie became a prison of the Revolutionary Tribunal. Over the course of two years, more than 2,700 people sentenced to death spent their last moments in the casemates of the old palace. Among them are Queen Marie Antoinette, poet A. Chenier, M. Robespierre. In the 19th century Marshal Ney and the anarchists Orsini and Ravachol languished here. In the same century, Viollet le Duc, as part of a comprehensive reconstruction of the Cité, rebuilt the palace, again giving it medieval features. In 1914, the prison was closed and the palace was given the status of a historical monument.

Tour of the Conciergerie
Having gone down from the entrance along a rather steep staircase, we find ourselves in Hall of the Guard(1310). This is the oldest surviving medieval hall in Europe. Under Philip IV the Fair, it was a kind of reception room in front of the Great Hall, where the king administered justice. In 1793-95. The Revolutionary Tribunal met here. The hall with pointed vaults is divided into four naves by three rows of columns. The capital of one of the columns is decorated with a bas-relief, which is believed to depict Abelard and Heloise.

IN Hall of the Guard(length 64 m, Sharina 27.5 m, height 8.5 m, 1312) there was a dining room where approximately 2,000 people in the service of the king were fed. Four huge fireplaces warmed the room. Near the southern wall is an impressive fragment of the royal dining table (black marble), at which the court of the Revolutionary Tribunal sat during the revolution.

From kitchen pavilion(a square room in plan), built under John II the Good, only the lower level with pointed vaults and four grandiose corner hearths has been preserved, on each of which strictly specific food was prepared: on one poultry, on the other meat, on the third fish, on the fourth vegetables .

When I was at the Conciergerie jail, the four western bays of the Hall of the Guard were separated from the rest of the hall by a wall with bars. In the dungeon (it was called Paris street– rue de Paris) contained the poorest prisoners who could not pay for a more comfortable cell. Their cells were called “senniks”, since the prisoners had only hay for bed. Today, in the premises located south of the Hall of the Guard, the atmosphere of the Concergerie prison from the Revolutionary era has been recreated. On the ground floor you can see prisoners' corridor, intended for prisoners' walks, court secretary's workplace, who compiled lists of convicts, concierge room responsible for security, compliance and supply, toilet, where those sentenced to death had their personal belongings taken away before execution, their collars torn off and their hair cut off, although only at the back of their heads. This was done for a specific purpose, and not only so that they did not interfere with the smooth sliding of the guillotine knife. According to custom, the executioner, taking the severed head by the hair, had to show it to the crowd and only then throw it back into the basket. They say that, showing the crowd the severed head of Charlotte Corday, who killed Marat, the executioner’s assistant hit her on the cheek, and her cheek turned red - whether from indignation or because the executioner’s hands were stained with blood remains unknown.

In addition, on the ground floor there is Girondist Chapel, which received its current name because in this room, built in the Middle Ages, Girondist deputies were kept before execution in 1793, Chapel of Marie Antoinette, built at the request of Louis XVIII on the site where the Queen's prison cell was located. The chapel is divided into two parts. According to legend, Robespierre spent his last hours before his execution in its western half.

In the eastern half the situation is reproduced Marie Antoinette's cameras. Based on historical evidence, restorers tried to recreate everything in this chamber as it was during the revolution: inside you can see a wax figure of a woman in black, closely watched by a guard. A woman with a book sits with her back to the visitors, and in front of her, on a wall with peeling wallpaper depicting a fleur-de-lis, hangs a crucifix. There is an original 18th century carpet on the floor.

On women's yard The fountain where the prisoners did their laundry and one of the stone tables have been preserved. The courtyard was surrounded by cells, in which prisoners had to pay to stay. One of the rooms is called "Corner of Twelve", where men and women could talk through the bars. Goosebumps run through your skin when, stepping out onto a neat green lawn flooded with sunshine, you imagine yourself in the place of the unfortunate ones, squinting for the last time after damp, dark cells into the sunlight before being sent to the guillotine... From here they took Marie Antoinette to the scaffold, who, although she had turned into During the last hours of waiting for death, the old woman, who had turned gray overnight, came out with her head held high and truly royal grandeur. They say that when she ascended the scaffold, the entire crowd, which had been rioting a few moments earlier, fell silent in amazement - so strong was the impression of the inhuman self-control of the proud queen. Already approaching the guillotine, Marie Antoinette accidentally stepped on the executioner’s foot and, without being embarrassed at all, said: “I beg your pardon, monsieur, it was not intentional.”

In the first hall second floor A list of guillotined prisoners of the Conciergerie is posted. In the adjacent rooms there are documents, engravings and original texts dedicated to the 500-year history of the prison.

The Conciergerie Palace is included in the complex of buildings Palace of Justice(Palais de Justice, bd. du Palais, 4), built under Baron Haussmann around 1860 in a neoclassical style, the palace houses the highest courts of Paris, as well as the Constitutional Court of France. In addition, on the territory of the complex there is one of the most beautiful churches in the world -

The history of the Conciergerie Castle begins simultaneously with 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 found an impregnable castle, his personal residence, on the western tip of the Ile de la Cité. This original palace was the predecessor 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 Ile de la Cité began to gradually decline and deteriorate, like the whole of Paris. The city was destined to once again enter a phase of prosperity in the 10th century, when Hugo Capet, the founder of the Capetian dynasty, again moved the royal residence to Paris, and the castle was returned to the status of a royal fortress.

The next 4 centuries were a time of great architectural transformations. 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 added to the walls, and the Royal Meeting Hall and the Royal Chamber were added to the architectural ensemble. 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 was 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 13th century, through the efforts of Philip the Fair, Paris acquired one of the most magnificent royal palaces in Europe - as close as possible to its modern appearance. Here the fortress walls are being renewed, the Silver Tower and Caesar's Tower are being built, the Royal Hall is being expanded, and its interior is decorated with statues of Frankish monarchs. In the middle of the 14th century, the final 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 rise 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 overcrowd, and some of the prisoners were transferred to the Conciergerie. Gradually, the palace acquired the official status of a prison, sometimes eclipsing the glory of the Bastille. Wealthy prisoners could afford solitary furnished cells here, while the lower class languished in the 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 aggravated 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 cells of the Conciergerie, 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 Suspects” gave the right to arrest anyone who in any way resembled enemies of the Revolution, sometimes without any reason. The defendants did not have the right to witnesses or defense. Among the most famous prisoners of the prison are Marie Antoinette and Robespierre, who, by ironic chance, became a victim of the policy of general terror inspired by himself.


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

Attractions

The walls of this Palace evoke echoes of “those times” to 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.

Chapel Sainte-Chapelle

Built by Saint Louis IX in the 13th century, this chapel was not the first temple building on the territory of the architectural complex of the royal palace. In its place previously stood the chapel of Saint 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 construction of a new temple. The Sainte-Chapelle became a unique reliquary that elevated Louis in the eyes of Western Christendom. None of the monarchs could boast of possessing, for example, a piece of the Holy Cross taken from Constantinople. The collection of shrines kept at Sainte-Chapelle was truly unique. It should be noted that the construction of the chapel itself cost Louis three times less than the acquisition of the crown of thorns stored in it. Despite its relatively small size, the chapel is an excellent example of 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 the sophisticated high stone structures are the frame for them. In addition to storing relics, the Sainte-Chapelle chapel was also a place of prayer for the royal family.

The chapel was badly damaged during the revolutionary years. Its interior and most of the collection's exhibits were looted and lost. Some of the sculptures were preserved, and the crown of thorns is currently kept in Notre Dame de Paris. At the beginning of the 19th century, an archive was installed in the chapel, as a result of which some of the unique stained glass windows of the lower tier were lost. In recent years, Sainte-Chapelle has undergone large-scale restoration work that has recreated its original appearance.

Hall of Warriors – La salle des Gardes

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

The huge space was heated by four fireplaces. From the hall you can directly access the royal kitchen, where food was delivered by barges along the waters of the Seine and served through a special window. The four hearths of this kitchen were intended for the preparation of a certain type of food - on one of them meat was cooked, on the other - poultry, the third served for preparing fish dishes, on the fourth vegetables were cooked. On the “meat” hearth of the kitchen it was possible to fry two bull carcasses at the same time. In the Hall of Warriors there is part of a marble banquet table, 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 John the Good in the second half of the 14th century.

The main purpose of the room was to store products that came here from ships sailing along the Seine. The king's staff were also located here.

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 Guardroom.

The time of its construction coincides with the construction of the Hall of Warriors; it has the same Gothic style, but is much smaller in size than the banquet hall. Its area is 300 square meters. 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. This place was once 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 halls was fenced off.

In this dark part of the castle, the poorest prisoners served their sentences, suffering here from unsanitary conditions and disease.

Marie Antoinette's solitary cell

The legendary place where Marie Antoinette was imprisoned.

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

Chapel of Marie Antoinette

Among the most recent attractions of the palace complex associated with revolutionary events, noteworthy is the chapel of Marie Antoinette,

Prisoner's corridor

Also noteworthy is the so-called “prisoner corridor”, which was a place for independent walks by prison inmates. There was also a special room where, before execution, all of the condemned’s personal belongings were taken away for the fund to support 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, some of the hair of the condemned was left untouched, so that it would be easier for the executioner to lift the 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.

Gloomy prison corridors and cells are decorated with wax figures depicting prisoners and guards, which complement the already realistically recreated atmosphere of revolutionary terror.

You can explore the hall built on the site of the royal prayer room, where in 1793 representatives of the Girondist party feasted before their execution.

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

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

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

Castle towers

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

Bonbek Tower

The oldest of the castle towers that have survived to this day, Bonbec, was built on the northern side of the palace wall during the reign of Saint Louis, in the 13th century. It is a characteristic example of a classic medieval crenellated tower and is circular in shape. In the 15th century, when the palace had already become a prison, the jagged top of the tower was supplemented with a pointed roof.

Bonbec became one of the darkest and most sinister places in the Conciergerie - there were torture chambers where a variety of terrible instruments were used on prisoners in order to extract confessions. The screams of the unfortunate people 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 prisoners were tortured until songs needed by justice began to flow from their “beaks.” The translation of the name Bonbek is also known as “Tower of Talkers”.

Having miraculously survived all subsequent reconstructions, architectural transformations during the reign of Philip the Fair, as well as natural disasters of subsequent centuries, which greatly changed the appearance of the Conciergerie, the Bonbec Tower has retained its historical appearance practically unchanged.

Caesar's Tower and the Silver Tower

Caesar's Tower was built during the reconstruction and expansion of the castle buildings under Philip IV the Fair, at the end of the 13th century, under the leadership of Enguerrand de Marigny. The massive round tower with a pointed roof received its name in honor of 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 French officials around the royal residence, the new buildings had to accommodate administrative services. The Caesar's Tower housed the archive of criminal cases, and meetings of advisers who passed verdicts and sentences in criminal cases were also held here. Later, the archive on criminal cases was moved to another location, closer to the Investigation Chamber.

Currently, at Caesar's Tower (on the left in the photo) there is an entrance to the territory of the museum of the Conciergerie architectural ensemble. 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 Caesar's Tower, almost close to it. It also has a round shape, almost repeating the architecture of its neighbor. Once the northern façade of the castle, including its towers, was washed by the waters of the Seine, which made the castle even more impenetrable. The embankment was built only in the 16th century.

According to legend, the tower housed the royal treasury - hence the name “silver”. However, she also had another, less romantic purpose. Being adjacent to Caesar's Tower, where the archive for criminal cases was placed, the Silver Tower housed the most important civil archive in terms of importance and volume. Other names for the tower: “Parliament Tower”, or “Grand Chamber Tower”. 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 “Tower”, as if ignoring the presence of each other.

Currently, 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 looks like a setting for a medieval knightly romance.

The latest and tallest of the castle towers, the Clock Tower, was erected in the second half of the 14th century. Its height is just under 50 m. This is the only Conciergerie tower that has a rectangular rather than a round shape. Initially it was crowned with a lantern, and later with a silver bell. The tower served as an observation post for the castle guards.

The clock on it appeared under Charles V, in 1370. A German watchmaker, Heinrich Wieck, was invited to create them. This was the first public clock in Paris, which became a symbol of the importance of observing the disciplinary standards of service, since it was at this time that the castle ceased to be a royal residence, became completely an administrative institution and came under the control of a concierge.

At the end of the 16th century, Henry III replaced the watch dial 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 were then restored. The interior of the tower was 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: 8.50 euros

Child: 5.50 euros

Children under 18 on a family visit, young people - EU members but not French citizens, under 26 years old, pensioners, and the disabled are free of charge.

How to get there

Ticket price

• Adult: 9 €
• Reduced: 7 €

With its characteristic towers, the building did not belong to the kings of France, just like their royal residence.

The Conciergerie became notorious during the French Revolution as a prison. However, once inside, visitors will discover one of the finest examples of Gothic secular architecture in Europe.

The Conciergerie is located on the Ile de la Cité and is closely linked to history. Today it occupies the northern part of the old royal residence, which is believed to have been founded in the 6th century by Clovis, the first king of France. In the 10th century, Hugh Capet established control over the government of the palace, which thus became the seat of royal power.

In the absence of the king, a concierge was appointed as his guardian, who managed the entire team of the royal residence. This title was considered a very high place and hence the current name of the castle - “Conciergerie“. The castle remained the residence of the kings of France from Hugh Capet until the 14th century. The palace was expanded and strengthened by Louis IX and Philip IV, who added towers and a large Gothic hall to the façade.

Following the invasion of the bourgeoisie, led by Etienne Marcel in 1358, King Charles V abandoned the Conciergerie. The castle continued to be used as the seat of the Parisian Parliament (the highest court of justice in the kingdom). In 1391, part of the building was converted into a prison and became housing for criminals and political figures such as Ravaillac (the assassin of King Henry IV).

During the French Revolution, the Conciergerie was nicknamed the antechamber of the guillotine, as it became the central prison of Paris. It housed about 1,200 prisoners. During the period 1793-1794, more than 2,700 people were convicted by military tribunals.

For most of them, this was the last place before heading to one of the guillotines installed throughout Paris. Its famous prisoners include: Queen Marie Antoinette, Charlotte Corday, Madame Elisabeth, Madame du Barry, Georges Danton and Robespierre.

In the 19th century, a major restoration was carried out in the Conciergerie and the entire Palace of Justice, and in 1914 it was listed as a historical monument of the French state.

Facade

The medieval façade of the Conciergerie is best seen from the promenade on the right bank of the island. The building includes four towers that originally stood in the Seine River when there was no bank yet.

The oldest tower of the Conciergerie dates back to the 11th century. It housed torture chambers where prisoners were tortured. In 1935 it was restored after a devastating fire. The L'horloge clock tower was built between 1350 and 1353 and is the highest point of the castle (47 meters). Since 1371, there has been a huge clock on it, the purpose of which was to regularly assist Parisians in their activities day and night.

Interior

The lower part of the Conciergerie is the only place that has survived to this day from the Middle Ages. It was used by the royal guards and employees (employees and officials) who worked for the king and his family (about 2000 people). The floor in the medieval halls is still the same as it was in the 14th century.

The premises were used as a dining room for 2,000 employees, royal banquets and court proceedings. The dark hall was once heated by four large fireplaces and lit by many windows, which were then blocked. The Great Hall in the Middle Ages was one of the largest of its kind in Europe. It was destroyed by fire on the night of March 5, 1618.

The guardhouse is a Gothic vaulted hall that was built around the same time as the warriors' hall. In the period 1793-1794, a revolutionary tribunal was held there. The Kitchen of the Conciergerie was built during the reign of John II (1319-1364) and its exit goes directly to the Seine. Four large fireplaces were built in each corner of the kitchen to cook enough food for 2,000 people.

The Rue de Paris serves as a corridor between the guardhouse and the revolutionary hall. It got its name during the French Revolution from the executioner “Monsieur de Paris”. Here were the poorest prisoners who could not afford to pay for a better place in the cell. They slept on straw and were often called 'Pailleux' or 'Payeux'. Now there is a small souvenir shop there.

Location: 2 Boulevard du Palais, 75001 Paris.

Opening hours: Daily. Beginning of November - end of February from 9 to 17. Beginning of March - end of October from 9:30 to 18:00.

Entry price: 9 euros. Entrance to the territory and visit to the Sainte-Chapelle chapel with a guide – 12 euros.

The former prison and castle of the Conciergerie (La Conciergerie) occupied almost half of the Ile de la Cité in the French capital. Peering into its towers and windows, with a good imagination you can hear the clanging of swords and chain mail of medieval knights, the clatter of the hooves of their horses, the rustling of the brocade and silk of the magnificent robes of nobles and monarchs, the creaking of carts and the groans of prisoners, the whistle of the guillotine and the jubilation of the crowd.

At one time it was a royal residence and the center of royal power, but the building gradually acquired the features of an impregnable fortress. Over time, its functions expanded - administrative services, chapels, and then prison cells appeared. Even today, the Conciergerie Palace is only partly a museum, being an integral part of the architectural ensemble of the Palace of Justice with functioning municipal services, the prosecutor's office and the court.

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At the same time, the stronghold is of interest as a historical landmark, the creation of which was worked by architects of the 13th – 20th centuries. Each monarch who accepted the heritage invariably sought to bring his own vision to its arrangement, adding towers, galleries, halls, and courtyards. Although the fashion for urban planning styles changed, the architects of past eras managed to unobtrusively weave new buildings into the ensemble without disturbing the harmony of the lines.

Crowned Palace Ghosts

Paris first experienced prosperity in the 6th century, when in 508 the Isle of Cité was chosen by King Clovis to build his residence on it. However, the Carolingian dynasty that came to power after him decided that it would be strategically more correct to shift the control of the empire to the northeast to the city of Lahn, standing on a hill 188 m high.

Until the end of the 10th century, having lost its guests, the palace gradually fell into decay, like the city itself, until the Duke of the Franks, Hugo Capet of the Capetian family, returned the dynasty to the throne, becoming the next king of France. With the change of power, the Conciergerie in Paris was resurrected, returning the city to the status of a capital. From this moment, a period of 4 centuries began to expand the fortress.

Hugo's son, Robert, nicknamed the Pious (reigned 996-1031), began active work, building galleries and halls on one side or the other.

From the northeast, the building was joined by the Royal Hall, where the Grand Council (royal Curia) held important meetings. The Royal Chamber appeared on the western side, and where Saint Louis later erected for the storage of sacred relics, Robert II built the Chapel of Saint-Nicolas.

The next significant period for the palace begins with the reign of Louis VI the Fat (baptized as Louis-Thibault, and reigning from 1108 to 1137). To protect himself from constant attacks from the outside, he strengthens the fortress walls facing the west. He also demolishes the old main tower and in its place erects a new one with a girth of 11.70 m and masonry 3 m thick. Until the 16th century, the donjon bore the name “Montgomery”, and stood only until the 18th century.

The baton was picked up by Louis VII the Younger (Young), who was in power from 1137 to 1180. Initially, he was going to become a monk, but when his older brother was killed by falling from a horse, Louis had to leave the walls of the monastery for the sake of the crown.

During his reign, he managed to expand his personal chambers and add a chapel to them for prayers, which once again characterizes him as a spiritual person.

During the reign of Philip II Augustus (1180-1223), another vibrant era of reform began. Having the character of a commander, Philip personally participates in the crusades, introduces innovative ideas into military architecture and builds up his lands with forts and towers. The Conciergerie Palace turns into the center of government of the country, where history is made.

In 1187, a meeting between Philip and Richard the Lionheart took place here, at which they accepted the cross and entered into a military agreement. In 1193, the king’s wedding to Ingeborg of Denmark took place within these walls, and the position of concierge appeared, dealing with medium and small matters of state jurisprudence in the absence of the ruler. It was occupied by a noble nobleman, whose duties included collecting fees from artisans, small traders and food establishments operating on the palace grounds. It was this vacancy that formed the basis for the name of the castle - Conciergerie.

Louis IX the Saint (1226-1270) became the first canonized monarch. In 1239, he brought Christ and other spiritual relics to the crown of thorns, and to store them in a short time he built the incredibly beautiful chapel of Sainte-Chapelle.

Other innovations are also peaceful in nature, and this marks the beginning of a change in the priorities of the fortress, which is gradually being transformed into rich royal chambers convenient for social life.

By the 14th century, under Philip IV the Fair (1285-1314), the royal residence surpassed all the palaces of Europe in luxury thanks to the efforts of the leading titular bishop Enguerrand de Marigny, who received the task of giving the castle a completely new look, corresponding to the greatness of the monarchy. The main task was that space was needed in order to accommodate a large administration here without compromising the personal space of the crowned family.

To realize the plan, nearby houses had to be expropriated, after which the Bonbek, Caesar and Silver towers, as well as the Investigation and Accounting Chambers, appeared. In place of the Royal Hall, a much more spacious Great Hall arose, decorated with wooden panels and supporting columns with painted statues of French kings.

In the years 1350-1364, John II the Good reigned, and under him, a tier for servants, a kitchen and a Clock tower were built over the Mercier passage. It will be called that only under his son Charles V the Wise, who will place the first clock in the city on its wall. However, Charles V did not stay long at the Conciergerie, deciding to change his quarters on the Ile de la Cité, first to Saint-Paul, and later to the Louvre.

After the monarch leaves the family nest, the castle-palace becomes the Palace of Justice with prison premises, and the concierge expands his duties, managing the city police and charging slaves for additional “amenities” and separate “apartments”. Only very influential people who enjoyed the king's trust held this position.

Officially, the castle was given prison status in 1391, when the neighboring Chatelet dungeon was filled to capacity. To relieve her workload, they began to transfer people from swindlers and murderers to political prisoners to the Conciergerie. Moreover, there were several types of casemates provided.

Wealthy and well-connected prisoners provided themselves with minimal comfort even in dungeons - by paying a certain fee, they received a separate cell with a bed, table and writing materials. Some could read and write, although this was strictly censored.

Another type of single coins was called "pistoli" from the name of ancient gold coins. They were supposed to have a hard bed and sometimes a table. But most of the prisoners were poor people, and they could not pay for even this modest comfort, and therefore they were kept in dark, cold, dungeons filled with rats, cockroaches, bedbugs and mold, called “God-forsaken places.” They had to sleep on damp straw right on the stone floor, and eat rotten food.

Naturally, very soon health problems began, and prisoners died from illnesses without ever receiving justice.

The Conciergerie prison was reputed to be the most impregnable, eclipsing even the Bastille in its reputation. No one managed to escape from here, and the sentences handed down here were exclusively accusatory. This gave rise to a dark joke among the people that the only way to escape from prison was through the guillotine.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the stronghold suffered several fires, and subsequent restoration made some changes to its appearance, but this did not affect the strong prison walls, but seemed to harden them, keeping the unwanted inside even more securely.

The greatest damage was caused by the fire of 1618, when a huge area burned out overnight, destroying sculptures, beautiful stucco moldings and painted lampshades in the Hall of Lost Steps, and also destroying a huge file cabinet with important documentation.

As soon as the loss was restored, the castle almost died in a new fire in 1630. The next one happened in 1776, incinerating in a raging flame the access road to the Powerful Tower, the royal apartments of de Mercier and the most populous gallery of merchants at that time.

The restoration work was entrusted to the architects Jacques Antoine, Demaison and Guillaume Couture. They had to completely demolish a number of rooms - the Montgomery Tower, the Charter Treasury and the eastern wall. Instead, the chapel and gallery of the Sainte-Chapelle, updated dungeon cells and the current facade of the Palace of Justice appeared, which turned out to be very useful, because the Conciergerie castle had a bloody history ahead of it.

Conciergerie during the Revolution

One of the most severe and terrible periods of the French past can be called the years 1789-1799, marked by the revolutionary movement, change of power and reprisals against adherents of the monarchy. All this time, the guillotine was the most popular weapon, and the blood on its blade did not have time to dry, cutting off several dozen violent heads every day.

After the collapse of the monarchy in 1792, a revolutionary tribunal was created in 1793, located in the Great Royal Apartments. In the summer, Robespierre joined the Salvation Society and proposed the “Law on Suspects.” The main tenet of the law was the arrest not only of the guilty, but of everyone suspected of anti-revolutionary sentiments. Anyone could inform on a neighbor, and he would be immediately arrested, and the death sentence was guaranteed.

The paradox is that this law failed the author himself, since Robespierre was accused of excessive leniency towards the enemies of the revolution and of excessive terror. His last words at the Convention were: “The Republic is lost - the kingdom of robbers has come!”

After the death of Robespierre, very soon (in 1795) the revolutionary tribunal was dissolved, having managed to sentence more than 2,700 people to death over the 2 years of its existence, depriving them of the rights to defense and testimony.

Gradually, the ominous glory of the stronghold began to recede, although for some time it still remained a prison. In 1914, the Palace of Justice continued to function, but part of the territory was turned into the Conciergerie Museum.

Once inside the castle, you will be transported hundreds of years ago, feel the cold breath of the stone walls, study the ancient paintings, feel the gloom of the prison cells and learn the sad history of its prisoners.

Famous prisoners

One of the first prisoners by chance was Enguerrand de Marigny, an adviser to Philip the Fair, who in the 13th century was involved in transforming the fort into the magnificent Conciergerie Palace. But as often happens, after the death of the patron, serious problems begin.

With the arrival of Louis X the Grumpy, Marigny was accused of treason and embezzlement, and false witnesses readily assured his guilt. The former councilor lost his property, was thrown into dungeons, sentenced to hang, and in 1315 hanged on the famous Parisian stone gallows of Montfaucon.

Here Count Gabriel de Montgomery, who wounded Henry II, “rented” the camera; participant in the Reformation movement; opponent of Charles IX, executed in 1574 for all his sins.

Separately, it is worth mentioning torture and executions within the walls of the ancient castle. The closer to the Middle Ages, the more sophisticated and crazier were the interrogations with bias and a logical ending. Moreover, the judges were not limited to one type of execution for one convict, famously combining the available options, and one unfortunate person could be cut off, then quartered, and finally burned.

So, Francois Ravaillac, who had gone crazy with religion, stabbed Henry IV with a dagger, and after 2 days he was imprisoned in a dungeon. His execution was terrible - after torture with “boots-blocks” he was sentenced to be quartered by horses on the Place de Greve (now the Hotel de Ville opposite the city hall). However, the crowd managed to recapture the criminal and bring him to a lynching.

The Marquise de Brenvilliers was known as an uncontrollable poisoner. She sent her entire family to the next world (father, husband and children, two brothers and sisters), as well as servants in the house and the poor in hospitals. After her arrest, the criminal was tortured by drinking large amounts of water in a short period of time, then beheaded and finally burned, also on the Place de Greve, in 1676.

The chieftain of the Parisian gang, Cartouche, despite his influential friends and his growing insolence, was one day captured and imprisoned in Montgomery Tower. He suffered torture with “boots”, after which he faced execution on the wheel. Frightened, the criminal betrayed his accomplices, among whom were people of noble blood. For this, the sentence was commuted, and Cartouche was beheaded in 1721.

In 1757, Robert Damien was caught in flagrante delicto when he attacked Louis XV with a pocketknife, stabbing him in the right side. The punishment for the attempt was quartering after 4 hours of public torture.

Against the background of previous passions, the incident with Countess de Lamotte looks funny and somewhat comical. For a long time she pretended to be a close friend of Marie Antoinette, was the mistress of Cardinal Louis de Rohan, participated in the adventures of the mystic Giuseppe Cagliostro and appeared as the main accused in the “Queen’s Necklace” case.

After the trial, she was publicly flogged and a “V”, meaning “thief,” was burned on her body. But her fate is completely unknown. According to some sources, de Lamotte did not live to see the trial, having jumped out of a window and died from serious injuries. According to other sources, the fraudster fled to Russia, took citizenship and, under the name of Countess de Gachet, entered the high society of St. Petersburg.

The Conciergerie became the last refuge for Marie Antoinette, who, in addition to having connections with states hostile to France, was accused of incest, but only to further hurt the queen’s feelings. Kept in a cell under the supervision of two armed gendarmes standing behind a small screen, she was not allowed to use writing materials, and the last days of the prisoner were brightened up with prayers and reading books.

Marie Antoinette was sentenced to beheading, and with a proud posture she independently ascended the scaffold on October 16, 1793, placing her head under the guillotine. The execution took place on what is now Place de la Concorde.

The loner occupied by the queen received a new guest a year later - the revolutionary Robespierre. When he was being led to execution at the same guillotine along the same road, he broke his head when he hit the door lintel. He completely forgot that he himself ordered it to be built so that the doorway was lower than Marie Antoinette’s height, forcing her to “bow” every time she was taken away and returned to her “apartment.”

The Conciergerie prison was reputed to be the harshest, and its cells with terrible conditions were overcrowded with criminals. Until the end of the 18th century, they could simultaneously hold simply suspicious individuals, criminals and political ones. But there was also a tradition here - after the death sentence was handed down, the prisoners were given a final feast.

After the construction of the modern Palace of Justice in 1868, it housed judicial institutions, which also had several high-profile cases.

For example: the trial of Sarah Bernhardt in 1880 for breaking a contract with the Comedie Française theater; the financial scandal known as the Panama scandal (1893); the trial of the poet Emile Zola; and in 1917, the death verdict was handed down to the dancer Mata Hari on charges of espionage.

Architectural ensemble of the Conciergerie: castle chapels

From the period of the ruling Capetian dynasty, two buildings have reached us through the centuries: the Conciergerie Castle and the reliquary chapel of Sainte-Chapelle. Where the chapel of St. Nicholas previously stood, Louis IX, nicknamed the Saint, ordered the construction of a chapel to house the crown of thorns, a piece of the Holy Cross and other religious artifacts.

The Sainte-Chapelle chapel is distinguished from others by its many stained glass windows, which tell the story from the creation of the world to the moment when the king brought sacred objects to the sanctuary built especially for them.

With a small area, it is considered one of the most attractive buildings in Europe, executed in the Gothic style. The fact that the chapel's decoration consists mainly of stained glass windows occupying 600 square meters makes it even more amazing and unique.

It was connected to the royal palace by a gallery so that monarchs and members of their families could kneel at any time before the shrine, kept in a luxurious casket on a pedestal in a richly decorated alcove. However, after the revolutionary movement and the threat of forever losing the most important religious artifacts, it was decided to transfer the crown of thorns for storage to Notre Dame Cathedral.

There is also a Girondist chapel, and it was built where the monarchs' chapel was once located. This name was given to it after 1793, when, according to prison tradition, the Girondins, members of a political party during the French Revolution, gave themselves their last feast here before their deaths.

The Marie Antoinette Chapel was erected in 1815 on the site of a former cell in which one of the most famous prisoners was kept. This part of the castle is open to visitors, and you can see the accurately recreated interior of the dungeon, which is enlivened by the wax figure of the queen, sitting with her back to the guests, and her eternal guards froze at their constant post behind a small partition.

Halls of the palace and their purpose

The Guard (or Guards) Hall appeared at the beginning of the 14th century and is an exceptional example of medieval Gothic. It served as a kind of hallway to the Great Royal Apartments, which were later destroyed, and we can judge their grandeur only by the size of its vestibule, with an area of ​​300 square meters. m.

In contrast, the Hall of Warriors looks much more impressive - 2,000 sq. m. m, although it is the same age as the Guardroom. It was made in the same Gothic manner with a forest of columns and a large four-nave space, which was heated with 4 fireplaces.

If you stand in silence for a couple of minutes, your imagination conjures up scenes from distant times with noisy feasts that were held here on the occasion of holidays, and on other days the royal guards feasted. You can also see part of a marble table that once seated up to 2,000 eaters.

The hall connected to the royal kitchen, where a huge amount of food was prepared on four hearths. Each of them was intended for a specific type of product: fish, vegetables, poultry and meat. Moreover, the meat hearth was so spacious that a couple of bull carcasses could be fried in it at the same time. Products were lifted into the kitchen through the windows, to which they were transported by barges along the Seine.

The kitchen outbuilding was built under John the Good at the end of the 14th century. Food was stored here, and the staff in charge of the king's table were located here. Today only the lower floor remains on this site.

Extensions and courtyards

Until the 15th century Paris Street as such did not exist, but when the palace was completely turned into a dungeon, part of the Warriors' Hall was fenced off, turning into cells for the poorest prisoners. In the immediate vicinity of the refectory, thousands of prisoners languished in cold, hunger and disease.

The street bears the name of the famous hereditary executioner - Monsieur de Paris (Charles Henri), who was responsible for at least 3,000 executions. Although his career began with wheeling and torture, and after the revolution he mastered the guillotine, those who knew Henri outside his workplace spoke of him as a kind and sensitive person who generously distributed alms to the poor.

He was a true gentleman, which was reflected in his dress, demeanor in society and courteous behavior with “clients”. For example, while transporting Charlotte Corday to the place of execution, he carefully advised her to sit in the middle of the bench in the cart so that she would not shake so much on potholes.

Henri has many famous people to his credit, including: Marie Antoinette, Louis XVI, Maximilian Robespierre, Georges Danton, Antoine Lavoisier, Fouquier-Tinville and others.

Walk along the “prisoners’ corridor”, and to make it easier to feel the atmosphere, there are wax figures of convicts and jailers performing their terrible rituals.

In the passage there is a room of guards, whose duties included maintaining order: compiling a census of newcomers, sending others to the scaffold. In the next room (the Dressing Room), personal belongings were taken from the convicts in favor of the revolution, and in return they were given canvas robes.

Next, they cut off part of the hair on the back of their heads so that the guillotine blade would cut off their head with one blow, but the executioner would have something to grab onto, showing it to the crowd. It was a favorite show, to which many onlookers, especially the poor, came to treat themselves, if not with bread, then at least with a creepy, but very exciting spectacle.

Back in the Conciergerie prison there was a so-called “Women’s Court”. Prisoners were taken here for walks and to wash clothes in the fountain. Also from this yard, a special cart picked up groups of 12 suicide bombers, making the final trip of their lives.

Towers of the Conciergerie Castle

has remained virtually unchanged since its construction in the 13th century under Louis IX, only adding a pointed roof in the 15th century.

From Old French its name means “good beak”, and was born due to the constant screams of prisoners whom the executioners tortured with terribly scary instruments with great enthusiasm. Also, when there was no longer any strength to endure, the “beaks” of the convicts began to “twitter”, giving out the necessary information.
This tower is also known as the "Tower of Chatterers", and is famous as one of the most bleak places in the castle.

appeared when Philip the Fair decided to expand his possessions (late 13th century). Round with a cone-shaped roof, it was named after the Emperor of Rome and in memory of the times when Gaul was the territory of the empire.

Advisors sat here, making decisions on criminal issues with the imposition of harsh sentences, and then sending the completed cases to the archive, which was located right there.

Today it houses the entrance to the Conciergerie Museum, but previously the path to the castle was between Caesar's Tower and its twin, the Silver Tower.
The second tower is almost identical to the first, and was also erected under Philip IV.