Prison de l'Abbaye

The Prison de l'Abbaye stood right here, on this corner of the Rue du Four, at what is now number 133 Boulevard Saint-Germain. The prison was demolished in 1854 when Haussmann drove his grand boulevard through the old city. A small commemorative plaque is all that marks what happened here.

On 2 September 1792, this became the site of the bloodiest episode of the entire Revolution. Twenty-four priests were being transported by carriage to the prison when a crowd attacked the convoy. The guards, rather than protecting the prisoners, joined in. What followed lasted three days.

Inside, a people's tribunal of twelve commissioners interrogated prisoners one by one. Those found innocent left to cries of "Vive la nation." Those condemned heard only "let him pass," and then stepped out into a courtyard where the crowd was waiting with blades.

Danton, the Minister of Justice, refused to intervene. When a senior official begged him to protect the prisoners, he reportedly shouted that he could not care less about them. Documents later surfaced suggesting he had personally authorised the lists of victims.

Between 1,176 and 1,614 people were killed across nine Parisian prisons in five days.