Place de l'Étoile

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streetname=Place CHARLES DE GAULLE
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arr1=VIIIe
arr2=XVIe
arr3=XVIIe
quarter=Champs Elysées. Faubourg du Roule. Chaillot. Ternes.
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creation= 1670
denomination= 13 November 1970
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The Place de l'Étoile is a large road junction in Paris, France, the meeting point of twelve straight avenues (hence the name "Star Square") including the Champs-Élysées which continues to the east. It was renamed Place Charles de Gaulle in 1970 in honor of President de Gaulle, but is still largely referred to by its original name.

The "place" lies in the middle of the "Axe historique" and at its centre stands the Arc de Triomphe.

"Place de l'Étoile" and the avenues leading to it were extensively redesigned as part of Baron Haussmann's urban planning projects.

Description

The twelve avenues, clockwise from the north, are:

# Avenue de Wagram, thus called since the Second French Empire, and "boulevard de l'Étoile" or "boulevard Bezons" before
# Avenue Hoche: "avenue de la Reine-Hortense" during the Second Empire and "boulevard Monceau" before
# Avenue de Friedland since the Second Empire and "boulevard Beaujon" before
# Avenue des Champs-Élysées
# Avenue Marceau: "avenue Joséphine" during the Second Empire
# Avenue d'Iéna
# Avenue Kléber: "avenue du Roi-de-Rome" during the Second Empire and "boulevard de Passy" before
# Avenue Victor Hugo: "avenue d'Eylau" during the Second Empire and "avenue de Saint-Cloud" before
# Avenue Foch: "avenue du Bois (de Boulogne)" during the Third Republic and "avenue de l'Impératrice" during the Second Empire
# Avenue de la Grande-Armée during the Second Empire and "avenue de Neuilly" before
# Avenue Carnot: "avenue d'Essling" during the Second Empire
# Avenue Mac-Mahon: "avenue du Prince-Jérôme" during the Second Empire

The "place" is symmetrical and thus has six axes:

# Axis "avenue Mac-Mahon" and "avenue d'Iéna"
# Axis "avenue de Wagram" and "avenue Kléber"
# Axis "avenue Hoche" and "avenue Victor-Hugo"
# Axis "avenue de Friedland" and "avenue Foch"
# Axis "avenue des Champs-Élysées" and "avenue de la Grande-Armée": the is the "axe historique" of Paris
# Axis "avenue Marceau" and "avenue Carnot"

The "Place de l'Étoile" (as well as the Arc de Triomphe) is split between the VIIIe, XVIe and the XVIIe arrondissements of Paris:

* VIIIe: area between "avenue de Wagram" and "avenue Marceau"
* XVIe: area between "avenue Marceau" and "avenue de la Grande-Armée"
* XVIIe: area between "avenue de la Grande Armée" and "avenue de Wagram"

The "place" is surrounded by two streets forming a circle around it: the "rue de Presbourg" and the "rue de Tilsitt" which have been so named since 1864, after diplomatic successes of Napoleon.

Literature

"La Place de l'étoile" is the title of a novel by French writer Patrick Modiano.

Transportation

(Métro and RER)

Motor Insurance Myth

There is an urban myth that motor insurance companies will not cover driving around the Étoile, which is not strictly true. Insurance companies generally only cover motor accidents on the Étoile under a knock-for-knock agreement [ [http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/travel/columnists/rsteves/stories/012807dntrasteves.203eb08d.html Circling in on the Arc de Triomphe, Dallas Morning News, 26 Jan 2007] ] , whereby each insurance company will pay for losses by its own policyholder, provided that the other party's insurance company agrees to do the same for the other policyholder.

External links

* [http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?location=orrAE%2f%2fP0cWPq%2b3F8PkIInQ98OA7HBzgEFyqWRBxE8DQ99Omqsmy1rWx7D1za2dBvQDIOx2g29PVNOmrRgyvGA%3d%3d&address=Place%20de%20l%27%c3%89toile%201&city=Paris&state=&zipcode=&country=FR&addtohistory= Map]
* [http://maps.google.com/maps?q=paris,+france&ll=48.873861,2.294898&spn=0.006007,0.020548&t=h&hl=en Satellite image from Google Maps]

References