Visited La Conciergerie yesterday. This is actually an annexe to the Ministry of Justice, but it is of historical significance in its own right. Marie Antoinette was interred here for two months before her final appointment with Madame la Guillotine, as were countless other revolutionary victims. Ironically, Robespierre too, spent his final moments in this place.
The main salle de guards was very impressive and inspiring. Soaring pillars held up the scalloped ceilings, while lights blossoming strategically from the mid-point of each column created a beautiful, dramatic lumincence to the whole.
However, the rest of the place was pretty dreary and depressing, as can be expected from its status as a prison during the French Revolution. There were wax works of prisoners in their cells, as well as one of Marie Antoinette in her own cubicle - wax impression above (although the cell in which she was actually held no longer exists, having been partitioned in two after the revolution).
Really hard to believe that such a small place actually held over 2,000 people during the Revolution - they must have been interred only briefly before execution, or the conditions would have been extremely cramped and crowded.
It was a relief for me to leave La Conciergerie - I can't imagine how prisoners must have felt.
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