The Execution of Robespierre Completely wooden except for the heavy iron blade, the guillotine was painted red for Robespierre’s execution, a detail not captured in this black-and-white engraving of the 1794 event. Large crowds witnessed the execution in a majestic public square in central Paris, then known as the Place de la Revolution and now called the Place de la Concorde (Harmony Square). (Universal History Archive/UIG/The Bridgeman Art Library)