The Conciergerie is a former palace, courthouse and prison located on the western sector of the Ile de la Cite of Paris. Situated just north of the Palais de Justice, it was originally part of the former royal palace complex that included the Sainte-Chapelle and today the Prefecture of Police. Two distinctive halls remain from the palace.

During the French Revolution, nearly 3,000 prisoners were interned including Queen Marie-Antoinette, the Marquis de Sade, poet Andre Chenier, Madame du Barry and King Louis XIV’s sister Madame Elizabeth. Adding to those numbers were many of the founding organizers of the French Revolution. Short-term residences cursed the majority of prisoners. They were tried and sentenced expediently to be executed by the guillotine.

The origins of the settlement of Paris began from the Ile de la Cite, translated into the City Island. At the beginning of the First Century, the island land became part of the Gallo-Roman community of Lutetia, on the opposite bank of the Seine River. A wall was constructed around the island and the Roman governors fortress was built on the west end. Today, the most prominent building on the island is Notre Dame Cathedral.

The palace would become enlarged during the Middle Ages and converted into the Conciergerie prison once the royal palace was relocated to the nearby Louvre Palace.

Rich and poor long-term prisoners sometimes comingled with political prisoners. The degree of their care was generally based on wealth and public status. Destitute prisoners languished forgotten in damp quarters, often dying from neglect from infectious diseases and under unhygienic conditions.

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