Why No Guillotines in Paris?
 

My kids were disappointed that we couldn't find a guillotine in Paris. Does anyone know if there is one? Why do you suppose there isn't a model of one in the Conciergeri?

There is no "active" guillotine since France abolished the death penalty some years ago. <BR>The last time I was in the Conciergerie there was a guillotine blade in Marie Antoinette's cell. <BR>I also recall guillotine blades, and other artifacts of the Revolution and the royal family, in the Musee Carnavalet which is a fascinating museum of Paris history in the Marais. <BR> <BR>

There is no "active" guillotine since France abolished the death penalty some years ago. <BR>The last time I was in the Conciergerie there was a guillotine blade in Marie Antoinette's cell. <BR>I also recall guillotine blades, and other artifacts of the Revolution and the royal family, in the Musee Carnavalet which is a fascinating museum of Paris history in the Marais. <BR> <BR>

Well, Joanne, I must tell you that my little sister is 25 and she was also disappointed back in October when she couldn´t see a guillotine or buy a small one as a souvenir. I guess she´s still only 12 years old. She is convinced that it would be a brilliant souvenir for little kids, and that she would make a lot of money... She is the one that almost convince us, when she was 6 years old, to get into an exhibition in Florence called "Heinous torture instruments".

Madame Tussards in London has a guillotine in the chamber of horrers including a blade rather well used at the time of the revolution. <BR> <BR>Why London? Well, the original Mme Tussard moved to London to escape the Revolution. <BR> <BR>It was 20 years ago when I was last there but since it's been on display for 200 years I'm sure that it's still there.

Covadonga, your sister was right! It would make a great souv for kids! Your post made me laugh...

Your kids would love to have a souvenir like the one I picked up at Prague Castle a few years ago. It was a hooded executioner, holding a bloody head - certainly the strangest souvenir I have ever bought - unfortunately I lost it while moving.

Do go to M.Tussauds in London, to the chamber of horrors, deep in the dungeon. It actually smells of dank, musty, ick, and I was scared out of my wits. You are sort of walking through a dungeon, and you hear moaning, wailing, and then you arrive upon the guillotine. It is actually a film of the guillotine, it is behind a thin curtain but you still can see, and with some enactment you hear the loud voices cheering on the guillotine as it drops onto the victim, etc., and I decided I'm glad I wasn't there during the Revolution.

yes, there is a place for that in London, it's great ! But I wonder if the wax museum in Paris hasn't got anything like that...

All of you who pine for a model guillotine can rejoice. Your prayers have been answered at http://www.mcphee.com/products/new/10471.html <BR> <BR>I do not work for Archie McPhee (I suspect it would be a lot of fun, however, for someone who lived in Seattle), so I hope this doesn't count as a commercial post.

If you ask me, Prime Minister Jospin deserves the guillotine. And what sort of horse's ass law I saw the French passed recently--MANDATED total sexual equality in election slates for all political parties.

The only place I know of in Paris where you can see a guillotine is the Police Museum, on the second floor of the Police Station on rue de la Montaigne, off Boul. St-Germain in the 5me arrondissement. There are at least a couple of scale models of guillotines there, as well as a lot of other interesting historical documentation and weaponry.

Sorry, that should have been rue de la Montagne.

Joanne, have you taken your children to the catacombs in Paris? Lots of real skulls, sounds like they would love it. Also next time you are in England go to Warwick castle for the torture display... really icky!