Château d'If
Island fortress-prison with tiered cells where a prisoner's wealth decided whether they ate well or starved.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Chateau d'If follows the fortress King Francis I built in the 1520s to guard Marseille's harbor, and traces how the crown later turned it into a prison where survival came down to how much cash a prisoner carried. It contrasts the crowded, windowless ground-floor dungeons with the private upper-floor cells called pistoles, and follows figures like the Count of Mirabeau, who did his time here decades before becoming a voice of the French Revolution. You'll also hear about the thousands of Huguenot Protestants who passed through on their way to the king's galleys. Look up at the barred, glassed windows on the upper floor as you walk the cells below.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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