THE CONCIERGERIE
Come discover a stunning building: The Conciergerie or the Palace of the Cité, located on the end of the island of the Cité, in the heart of Paris.
Let us have a brief overlook on the middle age origins of this true urban castle.
The Palace of the Cité was first the home of numerous kings of France, who all enlarged and embellished the structure, one after the other, between the 10th and 14th centuries. The king Robert II le pieux (972-1031) was the first to erect a real castle on the grounds of the Palace of the Cité. This residence was at the time confined in the ramparts built during the era of the Low Roman Empire. Louis VI le Gros (1108 – 1137), erected a huge dungeon, which the foundations are still visible today. Louis VI also built the chapel Saint Nicolas. Louis VII le Jeune (1137 – 1180) will then built in the Palace of the Cité, a royal oratory, which he will dedicate to the Holy Mary. This building is nowadays located underneath the chapel of the Girondins. It is under the reign of Louis IX (1214 – 1270), that the Palace of the Cité benefits of a huge expansion and important restructuration. For instance, the king built the Saint Chapel or the Salle sur l’Eau, used to host official ceremonies. With Philippe III (1245 – 1285), the palace keeps growing to the West, the North and the South, outide of the first ramparts from the roman era. But it is with Philippe IV (1268 – 1314) that the palace will be deeply renovated and enlarged thanks to the architect Enguerrand de Marigny. The rooms are redesigned, the Palace is now built on new space, which gives the hole structure a more consistent feature, splendid gardens a designed and vast new rooms are built in order to deliver justice and shelter civil servants of an overgrowing complex administration. The following kings will continue the works of embellishment of the castle.
Finally, the Revolution will transform the Palace of the Cité into a prison for the opponents of the new-born Republic. It will only be in 1934 that the building loses its function as a prison. The Palace of the Cité is today the headquarters of the Tribunal de grande instance of Paris.
How do we get there?
In Metro: stop at “Cité” on line 4
In bus: line 96, 21, 38, 47, 85
