Pierre-François Palloy

[1] He left school at the age of fifteen to join the French Royal Army as a cadet and then as an officer.

On leaving this career at the age of twenty, he married the daughter of a building contractor and joined the trade himself, eventually taking over his new family's business.

However, Palloy knew exactly what he wanted to do and by that evening had begun the process of dismantling the structure; he secured the contract to demolish the building two days later.

[4] Although Palloy did not receive the official payment for several years, he knew how to profit from the possession of such an iconic structure in the meantime.

Staff conducted tours, for a fee, to show the public around the basements and dungeons with skeletons as props.