Prison de l'Abbaye

The square here sits over the foundations of the Prison de l'Abbaye, once the most feared holding cell in Paris. Its heavy stone walls were part of the Saint-Germain-des-Prés monastery complex. During the September Massacres of seventeen ninety-two, a mob broke in and spent four days executing prisoners inside. They dragged out priests, aristocrats, and commoners, hacking them to death in the street while the neighborhood watched. Today, the prison is gone, leaving only the quiet pavement and the memory of that violence.