Square du Vert-Galant

This guide to the Square du Vert-Galant in Paris opens on March 18, 1314, when Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, was burned on this spot after seven years in King Philip IV's custody, and follows what he reportedly called out to the king and the pope as the flames rose. It traces the island's transformation into a garden named for Henri IV two centuries later, and unpacks the joke behind his nickname, Vert-Galant. Stand at the tip of the island, seven meters below the modern street level, and look up at the bronze statue on the Pont Neuf above.