Square Louis-XVI

Square Louis-XVI occupies the site of the former Madeleine Cemetery, which served as a burial ground during the height of the French Revolution. Following their executions by guillotine, King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette were interred here in mass graves alongside hundreds of others condemned during the Reign of Terror. A local royalist named Pierre Desclozeaux later purchased the land to protect what he believed to be the precise burial spots of the monarchs, marking the area with rows of cypress and willow trees.