Conciergerie

About this place

The Conciergerie is a former courthouse and prison in Paris, France located on the west of the Île de la Cité below the Palais de Justice. It was originally part of the former royal palace, the Palais de la Cité, which also included the Sainte-Chapelle. Two large medieval halls remain from the royal palace. During the French Revolution, 2,781 prisoners, including Marie Antoinette, were imprisoned, tried and sentenced at the Conciergerie then sent to different sites to be executed by the guillotine. It’s now a national monument and museum. In the 1st–3rd century AD, the Ile de la Cité became part of the Gallo-Roman city of Lutetia, on the opposite bank of the Seine. Notice how the building presents itself to the surrounding streets or landscape, then compare its public and more intimate spaces. This helps explain how architecture expressed the position, resources and ambitions of the people who commissioned it.