Part of the Palais de Justice, which dates back to the Middle Ages, the Conciergerie casts an eerie silhouette above the Ile de la Cite for those who know what it once held. It comprises the palace (which includes the incredible, blue and gold Sainte-Chapelle and its galleries, commissioned by Louis IX to house religious relics, a spectacular facade made up of a row of towers, and an enormous Grande-Salle, big enough to seat everyone in the palace for dinner), and a prison, which came into use after the royal family moved to the Louvre in 1391. Conditions in the prison varied from luxurious for the high born and well-off, to unspeakable for the poorest, who were shut in dark, damp, rat-infested chambers and often died of the diseases they contracted there. One of the remaining three towers was used as a torture chamber, and became ironically known as the 'Tour Bonbec' for the cries which emanated from it. During the French Revolution, some 2,600 prisoners on trial were kept here and waited in the Saint Louis room prior to being carried by cart through the city to their deaths by guillotine.

Written by  larapiegeler.

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