During the French Revolution, 2,780 prisoners, including Marie Antoinette, were imprisoned, tried and sentenced at the Conciergerie, then sent to different sites to be executed by the guillotine.

In the 1st-3rd century AD, the Ile de la Cité became part of the Gallo-Roman city of Lutetia, on the opposite bank of the Seine.

Before he departed on the Third Crusade, Philip II of France delegated his legal authority the Curia Regis, which had regular assemblies, called Parlements, in the Hall of the King, to dispense justice.

Less-well-off prisoners could afford to pay for simply furnished cells known as pistoles, which would be equipped with a rough bed and perhaps a table.

A flood of the Seine in the winter of 1689-1690 caused damage to the lower building, while a fire in 1737 destroyed the Chamber des Comptes.

Another fire within the palace in 1776 caused even greater damage, reaching the chamber of the king, the gallery of merchants, and the main tower.

The reconstruction following the 1776 fire added new cells to the ground level of the Conciergerie, and replaced the 12th century oratory with the present Chapel.

Antoine Quentin Fouquier-Tinville, a Montagnard, was named public prosecutor, and installed his office and residence next to the Chamber.

After several unsuccessful plots to free her were discovered, she was transferred to a different cell, where the current memorial chapel is located, and held there for forty-four days.

She was questioned in her cell on October 12, and was charged with three crimes: collusion with Austria, excessive expenditure, and opposing the Revolution.

[12] In the spring of 1794, the tribunal began judging the moderate revolutionary leaders, including Danton and Camille Desmoulins.

On June 10, 1794, the court procedure was modified to allow speedier trials; witnesses were no longer needed, and the definition of "suspect" was enlarged.

At the peak of the Reign of Terror, four out of five prisoners were sentenced to death,[13][14] By the end of July 1794, the more moderate revolutionaries, fearing their own safety, turned against Robespierre and the other radical leaders.

He argued that "the execution of the laws, justice and humanity were always my sole rules of conduct", but he was confined for nine months in the Conciergerie, and went to the guillotine on May 7, 1795.

After the Restoration of the Bourbons in 1814 and again in 1815, after the Hundred Days reign of Napoleon Bonaparte, the Conciergerie returned to its role as a courthouse and prison.

[17] In 1847, work began on an enlarged Palace of Justice, with a new Court of Summary Jurisdiction placed between the Silver Tower and the Tour Bombec.

In the final days of the Commune, the Communards set fire to the new Palais de Justice, badly damaging the interiors.

[18] The prison was one of the backdrops for the 2024 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, with a tableau that referenced the beheading of Marie Antoinette and the Reign of Terror, with performances by metal band Gojira and opera singer Marina Viotti.

The Tour Bonbec is a circular tower with battlements and a conical slate roof located at the west end of the Conciergerie, next to the Cour de Cassation.

After the court moved to Versailles, The upper parts of the two towers were attached to the Grand Chamber of the Parlement, and were used to store the civil and criminal registries of the kingdom.

In 1585 King Henry III of France embellished the clock with a new face, set on a blue background with gold Fleurs-de-lis, and framed by statues of law and justice by sculptor Germain Pilon.

The Communards set the building on fire in the last days of the Commune, badly damaging the interiors, but it was rebuilt in the late 19th century.

[21] The Hall of the Men-at-Arms (Salle des Gens d'Armes) was built in early 14th century by Philip IV on the ground floor.

[22] It served as a dining room and gathering place for the armed guards and servants attached to the palace, who numbered between one and two thousand persons.

During the reign of Philip IV parts of the hall were sometimes used for the meetings of special commissions appointed by the King to investigate problems in the royal institutions in the French provinces.

Thanks to the support of the columns and pillars, the hall originally had large windows, which were mostly sealed off in the 17th century when the Galerie Dauphine was built, though traces of them are still visible on the south wall.

[24][25] When King Charles V moved the royal residence from the City Palace to the Louvre, the Hall of the Guards was converted into a prison.

The Hall was restored in the 19th century by architect Antoine Marie Peyrle, who added some decorative details, including sculpture on the capitals of the columns.

They undressed and put on a special collarless tunic, and their hair was cut to make easier the passage of the guillotine blade through their neck.

The only light in the chapel comes from a single stained glass window, and the black faux-marble walls are marked with stone teardrops.