While Paris is currently known for its art, culture, fashion and sense of romance, but it had not always been this way. Paris was the center of the nation’s long and tragic history of revolutions, mass executions and rampant disease among lower classes. This Dark Heart of Paris Tour will take you on a journey through this darker side of French History, one rarely explored by visitors by the City of Love.
Description
The tour takes place under a cloak of darkness, winding down alleyways and cutting through the hushed silence of the night. Your English-speaking guide will lead you to the places that were apart of Paris’ darkest hours - the Place de la Vert Gallant where the last of the Templar Knights was burned at the stake; St Germain de Auxerrois where some estimates say 30,000 were killed in the St. Bartholomew Day massacre in 1572 and the Palais du Justice, where those found guilty by the court were routinely tortured and executed in front of live audiences.
Your guide will be with you every step of the way, pointing out places of interest and filling you in on the full details of the gruesome history of Paris. No stone will go unturned as you explore the dark heart of the city. Starting out with ritual worship in early Paris you will travel through generations wracked by the plague, French Revolution, Paris Commune and Nazi rule. You will learn about the people that have molded the city, from Napoleon to Mari Antoinette, Henry IV and the serial killers that once wandered the streets in Paris.
Sites visited:
- Place de la Vert Gallant – the site where the last of the Knights’ Templar were burnt at the stake.
- The Louvre - Outside view of one rear façade- is this really the most haunted place in Paris?
- St Germain de Auxerrois - The St Bartholomew's Day massacre.
- La Fontaine de la Croix du Trahoir - Living in Paris during the Middle Ages.
- Rue de la Ferronnerie - Assassination of Henry IV.
- Square of the Innocents - The origin of the Catacombs
- The Rat Trap Shop (As seen in Ratatouille) – The city’s vermin problem.
- Tour St. Jacques - The French Revolution and the reign of terror.
- La Fontaine du Palmier - Napoleon’s legacy.
- The Seine - Its influence on the city and its victims.
- The Conciergerie - Revolutionary Prison of Mari Antoinette.
- Ile de la Cité – Ritual worship in early Paris.
- Palais du Justice - Execution and the guillotine.
- Hotel Dieu - Ancient medicine and the plague.
- Hotel de ville - The old Place du Greve- site of execution and torture.
The Dark Heart of Paris tour offers a rare opportunity to get a glimpse of Paris that you definitely will not see advertised on postcards. This is a chance to learn a little more about the City of Love and its dark secrets.
Maximum group size: 20 persons.
Gratuities.
