Category: The Marais

2 rue Roi de Sicile, Paris 75004

This is a gruesome one folks, so if you are triggered by Jeffery Dahmer-esque murder and gore, I suggest you refrain from continuing…

You still with me? Ok, thats morbid, but glad you’re following! We all know Parisians can get a little feisty during the heat of the moment, and this has never been more true than during the French Revolution. If you think the history of the 40,000ish victims of the guillotine is dark, wait until you hear about the death of Queen Marie Antoinette’s BFF, the Princess of Lamballe, Marie-Louise Thérèse.

Described as delicate and sweet, also bit dim-witted; she first befriended Marie Antoinette in 1770, and eventually became head of the Queen’s household staff. When the Revolution began, MA’s other close friend, the Duchesse de Polignac, took off running like a little bitch- but the Princess remained steadfast by Marie Antoinette’s side until August of 1792 when she was forced by revolutionaries to leave the Queen at the Temple Prison.

Brought to the nearby Force Prison, which was known for its cruelty and less than desirable conditions, the frail and frightened Princess was put on trial in a makeshift courtroom on the 3rd of September. When asked if she was guilty of committing treasonous crimes against her country (by being loyal to the royals) she denied any wrongdoing. When the court then demanded she swear fealty to liberty and egality, as well as pledge hatred towards the royal family: she boldly proclaimed,

“Readily to the former; but I cannot to the latter: it is not in my heart. I have nothing more to say; it is indifferent to me if I die a little earlier or later; I have made the sacrifice of my life.”

Princess Marie Thérèse Louise of Savoy

Judgments were made as either “Vive la nation!” in which the prisoner was freed, or “Take the prisoner away!” which was, well… immediate death by the mob waiting in the courtyard of the prison. Unlike several other members of the royal staff who were freed, an example was to be made of the Princess of Lamballe, and upon the words “Take Madame Away!”, her fate was sealed. What happened next is not exactly known.

The 42 year old Princess was dragged into the courtyard, and witness accounts described her as raped, tortured, disemboweled, and beaten to death. Some went as far as to say her body was mutilated, her pubic hair sliced off and worn by one savage individual as a mustache, and her breasts bit off by ravenous teeth. Others say she was given an immediate blow to the head that made her unconscious, or perhaps it was a blade through her heart.

What we do know for certain, is that at some point her head was cut off, stuck on a pike, and paraded through the Paris streets to the Temple Prison where the Queen was held. The mob wanted the Queen to kiss the lips of her dear friend, and rumored lesbian lover. The Queen did not see this horrific scene, but when she asked her jailers what the commotion was about, they replied “they are trying to get in to show you the head of the Princess of Lamballe”. The Queen allegedly fainted.

The stories around her death are numerous, and horrific to say the least. Was her head really brought to a hairdresser to be styled during its route to the Queen? Did someone really cut off locks of her hair to sell them? Was a secret message written by Lamballe to the Queen hours before her death really hidden in her hair? There doesn’t seem to be much certainty. Even her body was never officially accounted for. Did she die a martre? Or as an overprivileged member of the royal court? I think we all can agree, that as far as friendships with royals go, the higher up you are, the further you have to fall…

11 Place des Vosges 75004

Today I’m taking you to the Marais and the picturesque Place des Vosges. The oldest square in Paris, this picturesque park was built in the early 1600’s by my favorite king, Henry IV on the site of an old palace.

Originally known as the Place Royale, this is where all the big shots of French aristocracy lived and gathered; duels used to be fought in the park and the engagement party of Louis XIII and Anna of Austria was held here. This is also where King Henry II got a fatal woodchip in his eye after a joust gone wrong in 1559.

What is remarkable about the square are the original 36 luxurious residences that surround it, all built around 1610 and constructed with the same brick exteriors (or facades if you want to be fancy). The ground floor is one giant square covered arcade with arched ceilings and if you are lucky, you can come to listen to opera singers belt out acoustically magic arm hair raising tunes in exchange for your pocket change.

Place des Vosges isn’t a regular on most tourists’ bucket lists, but if you are a 3rd or 4th time PahRee visitor, this park is a MUST, preferably during summer when park guards are feeling generous and let you picnic on the grass. (For most Paris parks, grass is meant to be admired, not sat on )

Place des Vosges is loaded with history. Victor Hugo (author of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Miserables) lived at number 6 from 1832 to 1848; it is now a museum that is worth an hour or two of your time. Madame de Sévigné (if you don’t know about this witty 17th century LEGEND, don’t fret- I’ll be introducing her eventually) was born at number 1, and many other Parisian elite have always called Place des Vosges home.

From an architectural and historical point of view, despite the insanely high worth of the homes here, Place des Vosges is slowly destroying itself in the lap of luxury. Because few can afford to live here, many buildings are vacant and not being taken care of. Just like Toy Story’s Woody and Buzz Lightyear, abandoned homes want to be lived in. Without heat, ventilation, and a load of other things that happen behind our walls, these buildings are slowly decaying.

Anyways, to my historical gem! There isn’t much background to give here, but on a stone pillar at number 11, you can find the oldest verified graffiti in Paris. Sure there is probably older graffiti, Paris is over 2,000 years old, but nothing earlier that can be dated or given ownership.

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Carved by Nicolas Restif, it simply reads Hit Up Nicolas for a Good Ti… err I mean 1764 NICOLAS. (Not sure how he accomplished this, I can’t write this well with a pen and paper, can’t imagine carving this in stone) Nicolas was a Burgundy born writer and printer who was known to go for late nights to think and clear his head.

Like an 18th century Banksy, Nicolas became known as the Le Griffon (the scratcher or scribbler) because he had a habit of tagging various buildings with his name and the year during his midnight strolls. This is the only one that survives today.