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Châtelet, City Hall & the Île de la Cité – crossroads, gods & governors

"The more things change..."
  • Think of the mules... 

 

The extraordinary intersection of five ordinary and three express métro lines at the Châtelet-Les Halles subway station echoes the junction of the medieval trade routes to England, Flanders, the German territories, Spain and Italy – plus the river traffic that linked central France to the Atlantic.  

 

Such crossroads explain why Paris was poised to greatly expand with the 16th-century New World trade, changing from a modest administrative center to the Continent's most populous city.

 

 

  • Power stays put

 

• City Hall and execution site

 

The huge open space that separates the edifice from surrounding streets dramatized public executions. Their function and executioners' particular status surprise us...

 

The Place was further widened in the 19th century, for an equally dramatic reason...

 

 
Junction of trade and pilgrimage routes
An 18th-century execution
Full view
The site now

         

         

        • Twin powers, sacred and profane, remain on the same sites: Notre-Dame was built over

            a fifth-century church, which in turn replaced a pagan shrine, and secular authority has nestled

            under its wing since Roman times...

         

         

          Police headquarters
          Hospital
          Notre-Dame and the medieval palace

           

          Police headquarters and this hospital have remained on the same locations since the Middle Ages.

           

          The medieval-appearing building a few steps away was the palace until the mid-14th century. The Roman governors' palace was on the same site.

           

           

          • A double visit – the Sainte-Chapelle and the Tribunal

           

           

          The Sainte-Chapelle and the Law Court have shared the same entrance since about 1250.

           

          We can view the world-known stained glass and then, because French trials are public, peek in on one.

           

           

          A visit to Notre-Dame ties in.

           

          We cross to the Left Bank –

          please CLICK

           

           

          • Costs: Please CLICK

           

          Credits: photos / Claude Abron; Hôtel de Ville engraving / Archives of historian Marc Gaillard (can be viewed at the Hôtel de Ville métro stop)