The Island of the City is the oldest part of Paris, and has been inhabited since the Stone Age. The Kings of France lived on the Island until the sixteenth Century. At that time there were several islands where now there are two. In the seventeenth century the Ile de la Cite was joined to a cluster of marshy islands to form the Place Dauphine, and the Pont-Neuf -it means New Bridge, although it’s the oldest bridge still standing - was thrown across the river with its centre on the island. Later another group of islands to the East was made into the Ile St. Louis, and the Ile Louviers was joined to the Right (North) Bank of the river. Notable buildings on the Island: 

1: SQUARE DU VERT-GALANT -named after, and overlooked by a statue of, King Henri IV

2: PLACE DAUPHINE - a lovely, tree-lined, quiet little village square.

3: PALAIS DE JUSTICE - the Central Law Courts.

4: The CONCIERGERIE - the oldest part of the Palais de justice; it was first the Palace of the Kings, replacing the original Roman Praetorium: then it became a fortress, then a prison during the Revolution, from which Queen Marie-Antoinette and two thousand others went to the guillotine. There are four towers: the Tour de Cesar, the Tour d’Argent, the Tour Bonbec (which means talkative, because in its torture-chambers people got very talkative), and the Tour de l’Horloge, which houses the oldest public clock in Paris. For some odd French reason, the clock is at the bottom of the tower. 

5: SAINTE-CHAPELLE: In the year 1238 Baudouin, a French nobleman and Emperor of Constantinople, was out on the First Crusade and flat broke. To get money he sold the only object of real value he owned, which happened to be the Crown of Thorns.

The pawnbroker sold the crown to King Louis IX of France, who had this chapel built to house it. The Chapel and the golden shrine inside were the cheapest part of the deal, costing less than half the price of the crown. The Chapel was consecrated in l348, and is one of the greatest wonders of Medieval Art. It has practically no walls, the roof being supported on slender pillars between stained-glass windows 50 feet high. Because of the windows, which give you the impression of being inside a coloured thirteenth-century goldfish bowl, this is the most beautiful place in Paris. Nearly all of the glass is original, displaying l,134 different scenes from the Bible. Beneath the Chapel is another, dark and low, for the palace servants. After building this, Louis IX was made a Saint, and serve him right. 

6: TRIBUNAL DE COMMERCE: a civil Court. 

7: PREFECTURE DE POLICE. For a hundred years the centre of government in Paris was here@ after the siege of Paris in l870 came a revolution called the commune, begun by the People of Paris, and cruelly put down by troops from the rest of France. After that, not until 1977 was Paris allowed its own Mayor and council; it was run entirely by the Police. 

8: MARCHÉ AUX FLEURS; on weekdays a flower market, on Sundays a market for all kinds of bird . It’s in the Place Louis Lépine, named after an uncommonly popular police chief. 

9 :  The Eastern end of the Island has been a place of worship for thousands of years; first a Stone Age Shrine then a small Christian church. in ll63, when Paris had a population of about 100,000, Bishop Maurice de Sully laid the foundations of Notre Dame de Paris, which was finished in l345. Most cathedrals have been added to bit by bit over the years, but this one was recognised as perfect from the start. over the years, and especially during the Revolution, it fell into decay, and was restored by Viollet-le-Duc in 1841-58. The spire and the gargoyles date from that time. French Kings were never crowned here - the place for that was Reims. Two Coronations which were held here were those of Henry VI of England and Napoleon I, who was not a King, but an Emperor . The towers are 230 feet high, and the view from them is nearly as good as the view of them. 

10: PLACE DU PARVlS NOTRE-DAME - the vast open space in front of the cathedral. There used to be streets here; the outlines of the buildings are marked on the ground. Beneath is an underground car-park, and a museum showing Roman remains found when the car-park was being dug. From a brass plate in this square, the official centre of Paris, all road distances in France are measured. 

11: HOTEL-DIEU: the oldest Hospital in Paris.

12: CLOITRE NOTRE-DAME: all that remains of the maze of medieval houses that once covered the whole island.