Home > Paris Attractions > Historic Buildings > Chapelle Expiatoire

Commissioned by Louis XVIII and designed by the architect Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine in 1815, the Chapelle Expiatoire is a small but sublime monument to the Restoration and not a sight to be missed by Paris visitors.

This beautiful and seldom visited neoclassical chapel is built on the former Madeleine cemetery, the site where Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette were laid to rest after they were guillotined. The Chapelle Exapiatoire contains a hall, two gantries and a vault. The arched arcades within the chapel hall commemorate the Swiss Guards massacred at Tuileries Palace on August 10, 1792 whilst defending the Royal family.

In 1862 the cypress trees which surrounded the Chapelle Expiatoire were cut down and a public garden was created. The garden and the chapel itself somehow managed to retain a peaceful feel as the city of Paris grew. This historic building remains today a magical, haunted place in the bustling heart of Paris.

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