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Paris · Mysteries & legends

Alchemists, charnel houses and executioners: dark Paris

An alchemist who never made gold, a cemetery that spilled into people's cellars, a square of public executions and a street haunted by the city's most gruesome legend. At every stop we separate what the archives say from what tradition tells.

  • 6 stops
  • 2 km
  • 1 h 45 min
  • Free
Start with GPS Read about this stop 1
The Stryge, Notre-Dame's chimera gazing over Paris

The route

Stop by stop

  1. 1 House of Nicolas FlamelThe oldest dated house in Paris was built by a man legend turned into an immortal alchemist.
  2. 2 Fountain of the InnocentsA Renaissance fountain in the middle of what was, for centuries, the largest cemetery in Paris.
  3. 3 Saint-Jacques TowerThe lone tower of a vanished church, a starting point for pilgrims and the burial place of Nicolas Flamel.
  4. 4 Hôtel de Ville square, the old Place de GrèveBeneath this festive square stood the scaffold of Paris for centuries.
  5. 5 Notre-Dame: chimeras and the Devil's doorsStone monsters, ironwork credited to the Devil and a carving some saw as the key to alchemy.
  6. 6 Rue Chanoinesse and the barber of the CitéThe canons' street keeps the memory of Héloïse and Abelard, and the most gruesome legend in Paris.

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Start with GPS

Guide mode

Walk it with GPS.

Open guide mode on your phone: you’ll see your position and the distance to each stop, and we’ll let you know when you arrive. Then read or listen.

Start with GPS

  1. Turn on your location

  2. Walk to the spot

  3. Check the photo and listen

What you’ll discover

Alchemists, charnel houses and executioners: dark Paris

Legends with an address

Every story is tied to a façade, a tower or a street you can see with your own eyes.

Record and tradition

What is proven and what belongs to popular memory, never mixed up.

Hidden symbols

Inscriptions, stone monsters and carvings you would walk past unless someone told you where to look.

Keep exploring

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