Islands in Paris

Île de la Cité, in the center of the Seine, is considered the birthplace of Paris.

It was the site of the city’s earliest settlements and was home to the kings of France from the 5th century to the 14th century.

The king’s palace, private chapel, parliament, and prison were located on the western side of the island.

The medieval palace was largely replaced by the massive 19th-century Palais de Justice, the site of France’s main civil and criminal courts.

The Palais de Justice was built around the 13th-century Gothic royal chapel of Sainte-Chapelle, constructed by King Louis IX to be a shrine for relics that were believed to be the crown of thorns of Jesus Christ and pieces of the holy cross.

Also within the Palais is the Conciergerie, the prison that housed many central figures in the French Revolution (1789-1799) before they were executed.

The Parisian police headquarters is located across the street from the Palais.

The eastern part of the Île de la Cité is the spiritual center of France, represented by the Gothic cathedral of Notre Dame (begun in 1163).

The cathedral stands on the site of an ancient monument to the Roman god Jupiter.

Other churches stood nearby before the 19th century, when the island was remodeled, the cathedral square enlarged, and the city’s oldest hospital, l’Hôtel Dieu, moved from its previous location along the river to the northern side of the square.

Notre Dame is also the geographic center of Paris.

A paving on the cathedral square marks point zéro, the spot from which all distances to Paris are measured.

At the eastern tip of the island is a shrine dedicated to the thousands of Parisians deported to German concentration camps during World War II (1939-1945).

Four bridges connect the Île de la Cité with either river bank, and a footbridge connects it with the Île Saint-Louis to the east.

Île Saint-Louis was formerly two islets, which were joined in the 17th century.

French architect Louis Le Vau designed many of the buildings on the island, which became a wealthy residential neighborhood when space in the fast-developing aristocratic Marais neighborhood, on the Right Bank, was becoming scarce.

The island is a wealthy and expensive enclave with attractive baroque and neoclassical architecture and elegant boutiques and restaurants.