The Committee of Public Safety (Pavillon de Flore)
It embodies the dark legend of the “Terror.” Created on April 6, 1793 in order to pass important laws faster, the Committee of Public Safety, controlled by the Assembly, was a group of 12 elected deputies with renewable terms. Decisions were always made collectively and its meetings were held in a building that is currently part of the Louvre, in rooms that overlooked the gardens. During the Revolution, it was still a part of the Tuileries: the Pavillon de Flore, renamed the “Pavilion of Equality” in 1793. Other committees also held their meetings here: deputies only had to walk across a couple of hallways in order to reach the Assembly.
The Pavillon de Flore
Central Committee for Public Safety, Year II of the Liberal Assassination, End of the 18th Century
Revolutionary Wallpaper from the Pavillon de Flore
At the beginning of the summer of 1794, Maximilien Robespierre had become the embodiment of the Republic’s authoritarian excesses. On July 17th, deputies arrested him. Imprisoned, he succeeded in taking refuge at the Hôtel de Ville with his friends. His respite did not last long: under murky circumstances, a bullet shattered his jawbone. It still remains unknown whether this bullet was fired by the police office Merda or Robespierre himself in an attempt to commit suicide. The next morning, he was taken to the Pavillon de Flore, to a room adjacent to the Committee of Public Safety. A few hours later, he was taken to the Conciergerie and then guillotined.
10 Thermidor Year II or July 28, 1794. Robespierre Arrested and Injured, Lies Down in the Antechamber of the Committee for Public Safety
