Monarchy, Memory, and the Chapelle Expiatoire

The history of the Parisian monument known as the Chapelle expiatoire provides a case study of the difficulties of remembering the French Revolution in nineteenth-century France. Constructed by the Restoration monarchy as a symbol of expiation, or atonement for the executions of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette during the French Revolution, the monument was designed to memorialize their deaths in a way that, despite its apparent intention, attempted to subdue political tensions. The political instability of the late nineteenth century, however, saw the site and its future feature regularly in political debate as opposing groups sought to build political legitimacy through their interpretation of France’s past.