Here we have the Conciergerie. It's history begins around 600 AD when Clovis I of the Merovingians built his palace on this small island in the middle of the Seine River called Ile de la Cité. He called his palace Palais de la Cité. Later Philip II, Louis IX, and Philip IV all remodeled and expanded the palace to what it looks like today. In 1358 the royal residence was moved to the Louvre Palace and the Palais de la Cité fell into disuse until 1391 when it was turned into a prison of all things. The person in charge of the prison was called The Concierge, so everyone began calling the prison the Conciergerie. It remained a prison until 1914 then sat unused for a few years before it was redone and opened to mixed use. Partially as a tourist attraction and ironically the rest as law offices.
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