Experiencing the French Revolution

A tour of the Conciergerie in Paris

Paris is one of my favourite cities and, since I spent a year there as a languages undergrad in the 1980s, it has drawn me back many times. During my most recent stay, as I particularly enjoy visiting sites relating to crime history, such as courts and prisons, I decided to explore La Conciergerie for the first time, and I came face-to-face with the historical reality of the French Revolution, during which some 17,000 people were tried for political crimes and executed.

The Reign of Terror is a fascinating period of French crime history, which immortalised the invention of the guillotine, and led to the death of King Louis XVI (and more famously, that of Marie Antoinette), which changed the country forever. The magnificent palace of the Conciergerie, with its shimmering grey stone turrets and fancy ironwork, was at the very heart of these extraordinary events and it offers a glimpse into the experiences of those who waited at the prison before they went to the scaffold.