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Under Lock and Key at the Conciergerie

The lavish Gothic halls of the Conciergerie are more impressive than ever since their 2000 renovation, not to be overlooked during your tour of the Ile de la Cité. Come discover the vast stone chambers of this former dungeon, where hapless prisoners awaited the guillotine during the French Revolution. Built by Philippe le Bel, grandson of Saint-Louis, it remained a jail all the way up until 1914.

In the year 2000, after six months of intensive cleaning, the vaulted arches of the Conciergerie were equipped with new (and rather chic) adjustable lighting, accentuating the wonders of this rare vestige of 14th-century Gothic architecture. For several years now, the office of historic monuments has been concentrating on re-lighting its buildings; the most brilliant schemes include the updated Château d’Azay-le-Rideau and the blue rays of the Saint-Denis basilica. And here at the Conciergerie, it’s a true work of art.

View of the Conciergerie from the Pont Au Change
Once you make your way through hordes of police officers (since you’re entering the Palais de Justice), three medieval chambers stand before you in all their architectural splendor. First the Wardens’ Room, then the Guards’ Room, which once served as a dining hall for the king’s staff (approximately two thousand hungry mouths!).… 
An impressive place
 The four chimneys that provided heating still exist. Even though they’re gigantic, you have to wonder how effective they could have been, given the staggering dimensions of this space: some 1,800 square meters in area, with a ceiling 8.5 meters high! Actually, it used to support a grandiose royal hall, the Grande Salle, which was eventually destroyed as the Palais morphed over the years.
The façade of the Cordeliers convent is a mixture of several styles.
As your journey continues, you’ll reach the Rue de Paris, which bears its name for sinister reasons: during the Revolution, it was here that prisoners who couldn’t afford a cell awaited the city executioner, nicknamed Monsieur de Paris.
Still curious? Take a look at the remains of the kitchen, an enormous square room with vaulted arches and four lofty chimneys (six meters high), where last suppers of soup, poultry, meat, and game were once rationed out.It sounds creepy, but the new lighting has added a jovial clarity to the stone walls, making the space more pleasant for the various special events that take place here.

The Guillotine’s Antechamber
Watch out: once you’ve passed the Rue de Paris, the ambience changes rapidly in what was once the executioner’s waiting room.
This fact is made more than obvious, with a detailed list of the 2,780 Parisians beheaded during the Revolution and a darling little model of the guillotine’s blade. You’ll also notice the three different types of cell furnishings, assigned according to the prisoners’ financial means: a pile of straw (one star), a bed (two stars), and a private room (three stars). Not surprisingly, there’s a reconstruction of Marie Antoinette’s chambers, where the fated queen spent two months before losing her head at the Place de la Concorde in 1793.
As you exit through the women’s quarters, you’ll spot some modern-day police officers through the windows, hard at work in the somber offices of the Palais de Justice. Times have changed.

USEFUL INFORMATION

Conciergerie
 Palais de la cité
1, Quai de l'horloge
Paris 1er

 Tel : 01 53 73 78 50

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