Hôtel de Ville square, the old Place de Grève

Today this square hosts ice rinks in winter, giant screens and demonstrations. But its old name, Place de Grève, had a sinister ring in France. A grève is a strand of sand or gravel: here a gently sloping bank ran down to the Seine, where boats tied up and goods were unloaded.

1From quay to scaffold

For centuries this was the main stage for public executions in Paris. On 27 May 1610, François Ravaillac, the assassin of Henri IV, was torn apart here. In 1676 the Marquise de Brinvilliers, convicted of poisoning her father and brothers, was executed on the square, a prelude to the notorious Affair of the Poisons. And on 25 April 1792 the guillotine made its debut here, with the execution of a highwayman named Nicolas Jacques Pelletier.

2A word born here

Unemployed workers used to gather on the strand, waiting for someone to hire them. Faire grève, being on the Grève, ended up meaning ‘to go on strike’ in French. The square took its present name in 1803.

The city hall you see is not the original: the Renaissance building burned down in May 1871, during the Paris Commune, and was rebuilt over the following years to look very much the same.

3What to look out for

• The statues on the façade, representing famous people born in Paris and French cities.
• The central clock and the bell tower above it.
• The bank of the Seine, where the strand that named the square once lay.