A little history of Montfaucon gibbet

The gibbet's dark shade used to be here, in the current district of Canal-Saint-Martin...

Come over here... at number 53 rue de la Grange-aux-Belles, a lonely hill used to overlook Paris.

In 1233, they raised the famous gibbet here, which was used for executions, for 4 centuries...

In 1760, they replaced it by a second gallows, 500 metres further (current 46 rue de Meaux).

Oh, it was because the bodies hanging gave off disgusting smells and miasmas: it was hospital Saint-Louis who asked for the gibbet’s moving, because of hygiene concerns.

And then... 30 years later, they definitively removed the gibbet. The place was transformed into a vast dump, where horse traders used to cut up their dead horses!