sites of public execution
The Hôtel-de-Ville is the 'Town Hall' of the city of Paris. The Place de l'Hôtel-de-Ville was called the Place de Grève until the mid-19th century and has had a busy history. During the Wars of Religion, Protestant heretics were burned at the stake here. From 1789 to 1795, during the French Revolution, many famous and not so famous people were guillotined in the Place de Grève, as well as broken on the wheel, hanged and quartered. Robespierre and his supporters took refuge in the Hôtel-de-Ville and were captured here in 1794, though they were taken for execution to the Place de la Révolution, now called the Place de la Concorde. In 1870, the Paris Commune installed their headquarters in the Hôtel-de-Ville and in 1871 the building was burned down as a result of the ensuing conflict. It was subsequently rebuilt as the Hôtel-de-Ville we see today.