The story of this place
Once a medieval royal palace on the Île de la Cité, the Conciergerie became a prison and, during the Terror of 1793–94, the grim way-station of the Revolutionary Tribunal. Nearly 2,800 prisoners passed through its cells on their way to the guillotine, giving it the name 'the antechamber of death'. Its most famous inmate was Queen Marie-Antoinette, held in a cramped cell for 76 days before her execution on 16 October 1793; a chapel now marks the spot. Revolutionary leaders devoured their own here too—Danton, and finally Robespierre, spent their last nights in these stone halls. The vast Gothic Salle des Gens d'Armes survives from its palace days.