Palais de I'Île

The Palais de l'Île sits on a natural rocky islet in the middle of the Thiou River, its triangular shape resembling the prow of a stone ship dividing the water. First appearing in records as a fortified house in the twelfth century, the building later functioned as a minting workshop for the Counts of Geneva, a courthouse, and a prison. Its cold, medieval cells were famously built at the water level, keeping detainees in precarious conditions for centuries.