Paris Conciergerie Priority Entrance Ticket with Histopad, Île de la Cité

Get priority access to the Conciergerie, a former palace and riverside prison on Paris's medieval Île de la Cité. History is soaked into the thick walls of this Gothic building, part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

From Royal Palace to Prison

Built as a royal palace in the 14th century, it found new life as a prison when the royal family moved to fancier surroundings in the Louvre and Vincennes. During the French Revolution it earned the chilling nickname "the antechamber to the guillotine". People accused of being enemies of the republic faced a tribunal in the Great Hall, and if convicted they awaited their fate in one of the nearby cells. The wealthy paid for relatively comfortable rooms with beds, while commoners were crammed into plague-infested haybed cells.

Marie Antoinette's Cell

The most famous resident during its time as a prison was Queen Marie Antoinette. After the Restoration, her cell was converted into a chapel, and visiting it is one of the highlights of the Conciergerie.

The Medieval Hall and Bonbec Tower

The Salle des Gens d'Armes, Europe's largest existing medieval hall, was once the dining room for 2,000 palace staff. You can also see the dreaded Bonbec Tower, a former torture chamber. Its name refers to the fact that prisoners brought here would confess to whatever they were accused of ('good' and 'mouth'). Interactive multimedia exhibits bring the past to life. The Conciergerie's past as a tribunal lives on today, as parts of it now house the Paris Law Courts.