Conciergerie

The Conciergerie is a prison in Paris which began as part of the palace of King Philippe IV of France (Philippe the Fair) (1284-1314).

In 1391 it was converted for use as a Paris prison.

Its damp rooms, high vaulted ceilings, dark, vermin-infested cells, were home to "les oubliettes" or The forgotten ones. Imprisoned for life, they were left to die in conditions that were ideal for the plague which struck several times during its murky history.

Located near the Cathedral of Notre-Dame and Sainte-Chapelle, it became infamous during the 1789 French Revolution when Marie Antoinette, Charlotte Corday, Georges Jacques Danton, and nearly 3,000 other women and men were held in the Conciergerie.

Its "Salle Saint-Louis", (Saint Louis Room) was known as the "Salle des Perdus", the Room of the Doomed. It is through this room that the victims walked to the wagons, waiting to transport them to the Guillotine at Place de la Révolution, the present-day Place de la Concorde.

Today, Marie Antoinette's cell is a chapel dedicated to her memory.