While Paris is currently known for its art, culture, fashion and sense of romance, but it had not always been this way. Paris was the center of the nation’s long and tragic history of revolutions, mass executions and rampant disease among lower classes. This Dark Heart of Paris Tour will take you on a journey through this darker side of French History, one rarely explored by visitors by the City of Love. The tour takes place under a cloak of darkness, winding down alleyways and cutting through the hushed silence of the night. Your English-speaking guide will lead you to the places that were apart of Paris’ darkest hours - the Place de la Vert Gallant where the last of the Templar Knights was burned at the stake; St Germain de Auxerrois where some estimates say 30,000 were killed in the St. Bartholomew Day massacre in 1572 and the Palais du Justice, where those found guilty by the court were routinely tortured and executed in front of live audiences. Your guide will be with you every step of the way, pointing out places of interest and filling you in on the full details of the gruesome history of Paris. No stone will go unturned as you explore the dark heart of the city. Starting out with ritual worship in early Paris you will travel through generations wracked by the plague, French Revolution, Paris Commune and Nazi rule. You will learn about the people that have molded the city, from Napoleon to Mari Antoinette, Henry IV and the serial killers that once wandered the streets in Paris.