Paris during the French Revolution with Assassin's Creed

The Invalides were the prelude to a major event of the Revolution. On the morning of 14 July 1789, a crowd of several thousand angry men plundered its armouries before heading to the Bastille. The rest is History!

Renamed ‘Place de la Révolution’ in 1792, it was in this square that major executions took place. On 21 January 1793, at 10.22 am to be exact, the deposed king Louis XVI was guillotined here. In total, 1,119 people lost their heads here, including Marie-Antoinette, Danton and Robespierre.

In former times, the Tuileries Gardens housed a palace that witnessed the fall of the monarchy … During the bloody day of 10 August 1792, it was stormed by the sans-culottes, and the Royal family, who lived there under house arrest, were thrown into prison.

Despite its stately appearance, the luxurious Place Vendôme experienced many fortunes and misfortunes during the Revolution. In 1792, the statue of Louis XIV which stood in its centre was knocked down by crowd. A symbolic act!

On the eve of the Revolution, the Palais-Royal was at the heart of the turmoil! On 12 July 1789, following the dismissal of Necker by Louis XVI at Versailles, Camille Desmoulins climbed on a table in a cafe and called the people to arms. This speech triggered events and two days later the Bastille was stormed.

Prior to housing one of the largest collections of art in the world, the Louvre was a royal residence. It was on 10 August 1793, a year to the day after the fall of the monarchy, that the Louvre became the ‘muséum central des arts’. A museum was born.

For more than 500 years, the Place de l’Hôtel-de-Ville – formerly named ‘Place de Grève’ – served as a place for public executions. On 25 April 1792, it was in this square that the guillotine was used for the first time to execute the sadly famous Nicolas-Jacques Pelletier.

Admired today throughout the world, the Cathedral underwent the full fury of the Revolution and suffered sacking, pillaging and destruction. In a time of dechristianization, the Cathedral officially became the ‘Temple of Reason’ and then was used as a wine storehouse.

During the Revolution, the Conciergerie was the last residence of Marie-Antoinette, who was transferred here on 2 August 1793. She was to remain here until 22 September 1793, the day of her execution. Today, we can see her cell reconstituted with her former personal belongings.

During the Revolution, the Luxembourg Palace was transformed into a prison. Major figures of the Revolution were detained here, notably Danton and Camille Desmoulins in March 1794.

This solid and stately looking building endured a turbulent history during the French Revolution. The Pantheon was originally a church ‘the Eglise Sainte-Geneviève’, which in 1791 changed its vocation to become a ‘mausoleum for the great men of the Nation’.

Our walk ends in the Place de la Bastille. It is hard to believe that more than two centuries ago, an impressive 24-metre-high fortress stood here. During the revolt, the Bastille prison was stormed by the people and this was to mark the beginning of the French Revolution.