What the Paris Conciergerie IS: A mostly empty prison that was the last stop for 2,780 people who literally lost their heads to the guillotine, including last true Queen of France, Marie Antoinette. (Ever wonder what her last name was? Yeah, I don't either.)
Prior to the year-long Reign of Terror (1793-94) of the Revolution, it was the place where French kings had would-be assassins tortured and executed.
One of the towers along the Seine was known as "The Babbler" because of the noise the failed assassins made whilst being tortured.
Back to the Terror -- after enemies of the Revolution were imprisoned, tried, sentenced, and marched through the streets to Place de la Concorde to have their heads separated from their necks. It was nearly a 1.5 mile walk of impending death.
(Editor: Well, at least the condemned got some good exercise before being guillotined! Writer: Yes, and many men on the Titanic got a good swim in before drowning. Read the room! Editor: I DID read the room and it seemed kinda bummed, so I was trying to lighten the mood! Writer: Sigh.)
Its interesting, because they are right next to each other, you can buy a combo ticket to Sainte-Chapelle and the Conciergerie -- one is a place of reverence and awe, and the other is essentially prison hospice, but you die in Conciergerie Hospice much faster than Jimmy Carter did.
(Not to make light of hospice -- my dad died in hospice and, given the toll his dementia took on him, it was a blessing that no extraordinary means were taken to keep him alive -- it was the first modern act that came to mind re the Conciergerie.)
We were given a complimentary audio guide/Virtual Reality tablet that didn't work. So they gave me another one, but it was such as hassle to get started, I turned that back in, and Carol and I had zero tech issues because we read the English sections on the display boards and kept up quite easily.
Watching the other tourists use their tablets, it seemed they spent more time looking at the Virtual Reality (or whatever it was) than they did at the actual rooms. Meanwhile, sans the tablet and using a skill that existed among some people back in the late 1700s, Carol and I felt well-briefed by reading the placards.
The self-guided tour started in the large "Hall of Men-at-Arms." Originally it was a massive guards dining room, but during the Terror, it became a holding tank for the poorest prisoners before they went upstairs to see if they were woke enough to survive. Most weren't.
Then you move to the bookstore & gift shop (odd placement, but they get you both coming and going, as after you've completed 90% of the tour, you come back through the bookstore. Disney would not approve -- it's got to be at the end of the ride! In fact, back during the Terror, the Conciergerie bookstore/gift shop, the bookstore and giftshop was at the Place de la Concorde so that the condemned could buy a t-shirt just before their heads got lopped off.
It turns out the bookstore (a raised area at the end of the large hall) was the walkway of the executioner, who was known as "Monsieur de Paris." Then we passed by prison cells, including the cell where shackled prisoners were processed by the Office of the Keeper. Ironically, he also played goalkeeper for the Conciergerie's guards soccer team. He was particularly bad at stop (death) penalty shots.
There is a room where the prisoners would comb their hair or touch up their lipstick because heading to the guillotine. I mean they were French, so they had to look good!
Upstairs is a room with the names of all 2,780 citizens who died by the blade, then more cells. Then back downstairs to a tiny chapel built where Marie Antoinette's prison cell was. We finished in the Courtyard of Women, where female prisoners were allowed some time in the fresh air.
Well, the blog program did it again, flipping the order of the photos. When I figure which programmer caused this to happen occasional, I will introduce that person to how efficient the guillotine is.
The Women's Courtyard
One of three paintings that
tell the story of the end
of Marie-Antoinette.
Her royal initials.
Medusa.
The Hall of Men-at-Arms.
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