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Exploring France's Rare Guillotine History and Legacy

4/1/2026

26 5 Full Breakdown

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Story summary
  • Guillotines have become rare in France since abolition in 1981.
  • The Museum of the Prefecture of Police in Paris holds a guillotine blade.
  • The Carnavalet Museum displays a guillotine model and brass earrings.
  • Five indentations in the Eleventh Arrondissement mark where a guillotine stood outside Roquette prison.
  • The guillotine was designed in the 1780s by Antoine Louis at the urging of Joseph-Ignace Guillotin to make executions more humane.