Page 89 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Paris

ILE DE LA CITE AND ILE ST-L OUIS  87

Notre-Dame and stretching
120 m (393 ft) underground, this
crypt exhibits the remains of
founda tions and walls that pre-
date the cathedral by several
hun dred years. The foundations
of Paris’s oldest rampart, dating
from the third century BC, are
displayed, as are the medieval
foundations of the Hôtel Dieu.
Within the crypt are also traces
of a sophisticated underground
heating system used for Ancient
Roman thermal baths. Huge variety of colourful flowers for sale at the Marché aux Fleurs Reine Elizabeth II
7 Marché aux “concierge”, the keeper of the
Fleurs Reine king’s mansion. When the king
moved to the Marais (in 1417),
Elizabeth II the palace remained the seat of
royal admini stration and law;
Pl Louis-Lépine 75004. Map 13 A3.
q Cité. Open 8am–7pm Mon–Sat; and the Conciergerie became
Marché aux Oiseaux: Sun. a prison, with the “concierge”
as its chief gaoler. Henry IV’s
The year-round flower market assassin, Ravaillac, was
adds colour and scent to an imprisoned and tortured here.
area otherwise dominated During the Revolution, it
by admin istrative buildings. housed over 4,000 prisoners,
It is the most famous and, including Marie-Antoinette,
unfortunately, one of the last who was held in a tiny cell. and
remaining flower markets in Charlotte Corday, who stabbed
the city of Paris, offering a wide Revolutionary leader Marat as
range of specialist varieties he lay in his bath. Ironically, the
such as orchids. Each Sunday, Revolutionary judges Danton
it makes way for an animal and Robespierre also became
market, which is best avoided “tenants” before being sent to
by sensitive animal lovers. the guillotine.
Arched entrance of Hôtel Dieu, Paris’s The Conciergerie has a superb
central hospital four-aisled Gothic Salle des
8 Conciergerie Gens d’Armes (Hall of the Men-
6 Hôtel Dieu at-Arms), the dining hall for
2 Blvd du Palais 75001. Map 13 A3.
1 Pl du Parvis Notre-Dame 75004. Tel 01 53 40 60 80. q Cité. Open the castle’s 2,000 members of
Map 13 A4. Tel 01 42 34 82 34. 9:30am–6pm daily (last adm: 30 min staff. The building, renovated
Closed to the public for visits. before closing). Closed 1 Jan, 1 May, in the 19th century, retains
q Cité. 25 Dec. & (combined ticket with the 14th-century public clock
Sainte-Chapelle, pp88–9, available.) 8 tower on the Tour de l’Horloge
On the north side of the Place phone to check. = ∑ conciergerie. (Palais de Justice). It is the city’s
du Parvis Notre-Dame is the monuments-nationaux.fr oldest and is still operating.
Hôtel Dieu, the city’s oldest The Conciergerie forms part of
hospital serving central Paris. The Conciergerie was under the the larger Palais du Justice, which
It was built on the site of an administration of the palace is still used by the judicial system.
orphanage between 1866
and 1878. The original Hôtel
Dieu, built in the 12th century
and stretch ing across the
island to both banks of the
river, was demolished in the
19th century to make way for
one of Baron Haussmann’s
urban-planning schemes. It
was here in 1944 that the Paris
police courageously resisted
the Germans; the battle is
com memorated by a monu-
ment on Cour de 19-Août. The Gothic Salle des Gens d’Armes (Hall of the Men-at-Arms) in the Conciergerie

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