1793, Place Nationale (which would later become Place Gambetta) welcomes the first Bordeaux guillotine.
« Bad news » for crooks, thugs, killers and other Girondin traitors to the nation.
Because, if you remember your primary school lessons, heads did fall during that period.
More than 300 skulls were separated from their bodies on this historic square.
From 1793 to 1960, the guillotine operated 372 times in five places around the city (including Place de la Victoire, Place Bir Hakeim and the Hâ prison).
For the juicy details, know that over 35,000 people gathered to witness the beheading of Pierre Vincent Eliçabide (28 years old, accused and convicted of a triple murder).
It was in 1933 that the blade fell for the last time in public. The lucky one was none other than Pierre Delafet, a peasant who apparently killed 6 members of his family during the Sunday meal!
In 1960, the invention that made a certain Joseph famous (after the carpenter, I mean) did its job for the last time.
A piece of info that sends chills down the spine, doesn't it? (or makes you lose your head)…
