This square's old name, Place de Grève (meaning "strike" or "shore"), referred to the fact that the square sloped gently towards the Seine and also gave rise to the expression "to strike" (faire grève), as unemployed workers used to meet here in the Middle Ages. Used for executions under the Ancien Régime, the square is now paved with granite slabs and features in its centre the "nef de Paris" (a coat-of-arms featuring a ship), which has been the seal of watersellers since the 13C.