★★★★★ 5.0
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Chapelle expiatoire
Right now, 500 guillotine victims' bones are hiding behind these white marble walls... that's like five whole school classes who lost their heads during the French Revolution! You're standing on the exact spot where King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette were first tossed into a mass grave after their executions in 1793. This chapel took ten whole years to build - that's longer than you've been alive! Look for the black and white checkerboard marble floor beneath your feet... it leads to an altar marking the precise spot where the king was buried. The coolest part? Every January 21st, they still hold a special ceremony here, and back in 1871, angry rebels wanted to blow this whole place up but ran out of time! Can you spot the crying widow statues holding up the walls inside?
Did You Know?
- Built directly on the site of the former Madeleine Cemetery, the Chapelle Expiatoire marks the spot where King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette were initially buried after their executions—making it a unique memorial not just to their memory, but to the dramatic turning point in French history when the monarchy fell and the Revolution reshaped the nation.
- Inside the chapel, visitors can find two remarkable statues: one of Louis XVI being escorted to immortality by an angel, with his last will and testament inscribed at the base, and another of Marie Antoinette kneeling before Religion, with her final, poignant letter to her children engraved below—both offering a deeply personal glimpse into the lives and legacies of the doomed royal couple.
- Despite its solemn purpose, the Chapelle Expiatoire is surrounded by the peaceful Square Louis XVI, a public park created in 1862 after the original cypress trees were cut down—a little-known green oasis in the heart of Paris that offers families a quiet place to reflect, away from the city’s bustle, while exploring a site steeped in royal and revolutionary history.