Off the Beaten Track: Paris Police Museum

Where in Paris might one find, under a single, unassuming roof, thousands of artifacts documenting some of the city's darkest crimes and historical moments? The Paris Police Museum (Musée de la Préfecture) is housed in a current-day police station in the Latin Quarter and features over 2,000 documents and objects. Read ornately handwritten police registries detailing crimes such as the stabbing of King Henry IV by François Ravaillac out on the Paris streets in 1610, witness an original guillotine blade weighing nearly 20 pounds (displayed next to a model of the full guillotine), or read accounts of how police forces attempted to fight off approaching German Occupation forces in 1940. Maps, drawings, weapons, police uniforms, and countless other artifacts are sure to sate history and crime buffs. It's a sobering reminder that even a beautiful place like Paris has had its darker moments, and offers a more nuanced perspective of some of the events and places that mark the city's history.

Read More: Guide to the Paris Police Museum (Musée de la Préfecture)

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• Top Ten Paris Museums
• Short History of Paris
• History of the Louvre Museum
• Musée Carnavalet (Museum of Paris History)

Image: Courtesy of the Musee de la Prefecture.