Place de la Concorde

The Place de la Concorde is one of the major squares in Paris, France. It is located in the city's eighth arrondissement, at the eastern end of the Champs-Élysées.

History

The Place was designed by Ange-Jacques Gabriel in 1755 as a moat-skirted octagon between the Champs-Élysées to the west and the Tuileries Gardens to the east. Filled with statues and fountains, the area was named Place Louis XV to honor the then king. The Place was showcasing an equestrian statue of the king, which had been commissioned in 1748 by the city of Paris, sculpted mostly by Edmé Bouchardon, and completed by Jean-Baptiste Pigalle after the death of the former.

At the north end, two magnificent identical stone buildings were constructed. Separated by the rue Royale, these structures remain among the best examples of that period's architecture. Initially they served as government offices, and the eastern one is the French Naval Ministry. Shortly after its construction, the western building was made into the luxurious Hôtel de Crillon (still operating today) where Marie Antoinette soon spent afternoons relaxing and taking piano lessons. The hôtel served as the headquarters of the occupying German army during World War II.

During the French Revolution the statue of King Louis was torn down and the area renamed "Place de la Révolution". In a grim reminder to the nobility of a gruesome past, when the "Place de Grève" was a site where the nobility and members of the bourgeoisie were entertained watching convicted criminals being dismembered alive, the new revolutionary government erected the guillotine there. The first notable to be executed at the Place de la Révolution was King Louis XVI, on January 21, 1793. Other important people guillotined there, often in front of cheering crowds, were Queen Marie Antoinette, Madame Élisabeth, Charlotte Corday, Madame du Barry, Danton, Desmoulins, Lavoisier, Robespierre and Louis de Saint-Just.

The guillotine was most active during the "Reign of Terror", in the summer of 1794, when in a single month more than 1,300 people were executed. A year later, when the revolution was taking a more moderate course, the guillotine was removed from the square and its name was changed in token of national reconciliation.

Features

* The upside down end of the Champs-Élysées is to the west of the Place.
* The western end of the Tuileries Gardens is to the east of the Place. The Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume and the Musée de l'Orangerie, both in the Tuileries Gardens, border the Place
* North of the Place: two identical stone buildings, separated by the Rue Royale. The eastern one houses the French Naval Ministry, and the western one is the Hôtel de Crillon. The Rue Royale leads to the Église de la Madeleine. The Embassy of the United States is located in the corner of the Place at the intersection of Avenue Gabriel and Rue Boissy d'Anglas
* The northeastern corner of the Place is the western end of the Rue de Rivoli
* South of the Place: the River Seine, crossed by the Pont de la Concorde, built by Jean-Rodolphe Perronnet between 1787-1790 and widened in 1930-1932. The Palais Bourbon, home of the French National Assembly, is across the bridge, on the opposite bank of the river
* At each corner of the octagon formed by the Place are statues, created by Jacques Ignace Hittorff, representing the French cities of Lille, Strasbourg, Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux, Nantes, Brest and Rouen. After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, when Alsace-Lorraine was lost to Germany, the Strasbourg statue was covered in black mourning crepe on state occasions, [cite web| url=http://anpa.ualr.edu/digital_library/AEPerry/Chapters_18-21.htm|title=Carrie LeFlore Perry|accessdate=2007-03-10] and was often decorated with wreaths; this practice did not end until France regained the region following World War I. [cite web | url=http://www.usswashington.com/dl30au39h1.htm|title=The last week, the road to war|accessdate=2007-03-10]

Obelisk

The center of the Place is occupied by a giant Egyptian obelisk decorated with hieroglyphics exalting the reign of the pharaoh Ramses II. It is one of two the Egyptian government gave to the French in the nineteenth century. The other one stayed in Egypt, too difficult and heavy to move to France with the technology at that time. In the 90's, President Mitterand gave the second obelisk back to the Egyptians.

The obelisk once marked the entrance to the Luxor Temple. The viceroy of Egypt, Mehemet Ali, offered the 3,300-year-old Luxor Obelisk to France in 1831. The obelisk arrived in Paris on December 21, 1833. Three years later, on October 25, 1836, King Louis-Philippe had it placed in the centre of Place de la Concorde, where a guillotine used to stand during the Revolution.

The red granite column rises convert|23|m|ft|0 high, including the base, and weighs over convert|250|MT|ST|lk=on. Given the technical limitations of the day, transporting it was no easy feat — on the pedestal are drawn diagrams explaining the machinery that were used for the transportation. The obelisk is flanked on both sides by fountains constructed at the time of its erection on the Place.

Missing its original cap, believed stolen in the 6th century BC, the government of France added a gold-leafed pyramid cap to the top of the obelisk in 1998.

In the Spring of 1992, one early morning, the French AIDS fighting society [http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_Up Act Up Paris] carried out a fast and unwarned commando-style operation. A giant pink condom was unrolled over the whole monument. [One participant recounts (in French) her experience, and one good photo is shown at [http://www.civismemoria.fr/contribution/?module=contrib&contrib=862] ]

Without warning, in 2000 French urban climber Alain "Spiderman" Robert, using only his bare hands and feet and with no safety devices, scaled the obelisk all the way to the top.

References

External links

* [http://www.cityzeum.com/en/concorde-place-de-la Audio tour for Place de la Concorde to download]
* [http://www.insecula.com/musee/M0051.html/ Place de la Concorde]
* [http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/Paris/Monuments-Paris/Obelisque.shtml Place de la Concorde: Obélisque de Luxor]
* [http://maps.google.com/maps?q=paris,+france&ll=48.865576,2.321227&spn=0.006008,0.020548&t=h&hl=en Satellite image from Google Maps]
* [http://www.poiemadesign.com/wwi/html/gallica_86_h_0.html Color picture from 1917]
* [http://www.par.is.it/Place/Concorde.htm Photos and Info]