The Obelisk
This 230 ton Egyptian granite obelisk (on which Ramses II is praised via hieroglyphics) in the Place de Concorde, at what was the site of the guillotine. It was 3200 years old at the time it was gifted to Louis Philippe in 1836. During the Revolution, the tumbrels, filled with the condemned, traveled from the Conciergerie via Rue Saint-Honore and turned left at Rue Royale, at the Church of the Madeleine (slightly to the left of the obelisk in this photograph), to the guillotine.
Ah, the irony of it all...
* Among those guillotined at this site was Maximilien Robespierre, who had to ride the tumbrel past the home in which he lived. The great Revolutionary orator's jaw was shattered as a result of either a self-inflicted bullet or a failed murder attempt. He'd been instrumental in the deaths of 1300 people in a month during the Reign of Terror.
* I don't know, for sure, if Philippe Egalite's (AKA duc d'Orleans, the King's cousin, who was one of the instigators of the Revolution) execution took place at Place de Revolution, but it seems likely, because he was buried (as were Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI) at the conveniently located Church of the Madeleine. If he was executed at Place de Revolution, he, too, had to pass his home, the Palais Royale.
* Philippe Egalite's son, Louis-Philippe, defected during the Revolution and, at one point, lived in America. He's believed to have lived above what is now Boston's oldest restaurant, the Union Oyster House. I'm going to go there when I visit Micah next month. In 1809, Louis Philippe married Princess Maria Amelia, the daughter of Marie Antoinette's favorite sister and, in 1830, became the last King of the French. The son of the King's cousin (who had voted for the King's death) and the niece of Marie Antoinette lived at Versailles.
On a lighter note, a gay rights group recently staged a midnight raid on the Place de Concorde and placed a giant condom on the Obelisk. This comes under the category of Humorous, and Ironic, too, thanks to the Ramses connection.
Ah, the irony of it all...
* Among those guillotined at this site was Maximilien Robespierre, who had to ride the tumbrel past the home in which he lived. The great Revolutionary orator's jaw was shattered as a result of either a self-inflicted bullet or a failed murder attempt. He'd been instrumental in the deaths of 1300 people in a month during the Reign of Terror.
* I don't know, for sure, if Philippe Egalite's (AKA duc d'Orleans, the King's cousin, who was one of the instigators of the Revolution) execution took place at Place de Revolution, but it seems likely, because he was buried (as were Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI) at the conveniently located Church of the Madeleine. If he was executed at Place de Revolution, he, too, had to pass his home, the Palais Royale.
* Philippe Egalite's son, Louis-Philippe, defected during the Revolution and, at one point, lived in America. He's believed to have lived above what is now Boston's oldest restaurant, the Union Oyster House. I'm going to go there when I visit Micah next month. In 1809, Louis Philippe married Princess Maria Amelia, the daughter of Marie Antoinette's favorite sister and, in 1830, became the last King of the French. The son of the King's cousin (who had voted for the King's death) and the niece of Marie Antoinette lived at Versailles.
On a lighter note, a gay rights group recently staged a midnight raid on the Place de Concorde and placed a giant condom on the Obelisk. This comes under the category of Humorous, and Ironic, too, thanks to the Ramses connection.
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