Tag: Jacques-Louis David

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Paris History Museums

In previous blogs, I have mentioned certain museums for various reasons. One that I often mention is the Musée Carnavalet. After two thousand years, Paris certainly has plenty of history to fill a lot of buildings (or underground bunkers), satisfy the interests of every professional or amateur historian, and provide a peek into mainstream or quirky historical events.

Today, I thought I’d share with you some of these Paris museums. Click here to visit the Paris Info web-site.  I haven’t covered all the historical museums in this blog, but I did pick the ones I enjoy visiting and ones that are often overlooked. I will start with the three museums that, in my opinion, are the most interesting. I would consider them to be “general” museums as opposed to ones dedicated to a singular topic or event. Read More Paris History Museums

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The Rumble of the Tumbrel

As you know, the title of one of my books will be “Where Did They Put the Guillotine?” It’s about buildings, places, sites and people significant to the French Revolution. I’ll take you on walking tours of Paris and show you these sites. One of the walking tours will be entitled: “The Rumble of the Tumbrel: Marie Antoinette’s Last Ride.”

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The steps leading up to the Cour du Mai where the carts would wait for the prisoners (photo by Dan Owen)

So on our recent trip to Paris, we decided to walk the exact route that Marie Antoinette’s tumbrel (i.e., cart) took to the guillotine.

We began at the Conciergerie, the former medieval palace turned prison. Prisoners were brought here from other prisons scattered around Paris. This was their last stop before getting into the tumbrels that would take them to the guillotine. A typical stay was one or two nights. Marie Antoinette was an exception as she spent over two months in this prison. Once the bell rang (it is still there), the condemned prisoners would congregate in the “Corner of the Twelve” before being loaded into the carts (each cart could hold twelve people ergo the name of the segregated courtyard).

Read More The Rumble of the Tumbrel