Place de la Concorde

From Paris Hotels Reviews

At the eastern end of the Champs-Elysees lies the grand, pleasingly harmonious place de la Concorde, marred only by its constant stream of traffic. Its centerpiece is a gold-tipped obelisk from the temple of Ramses at Luxor, given by Mohammed Ali to Louis-Philippe in 1831, and flanked by two ornate bronze fountains, modeled on those in St. Peter’s Square, Rome. The square’s history is much less harmonious than its name “Concorde” suggests. The equestrian statue of Louis XV that formerly stood at the centre of the square was toppled in 1792, and between 1793 and 1795 some 1300 people died here beneath the Revolutionary guillotine, Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette, Danton and Robespierre among them. On one occasion there was so much blood on the square from the guillotines that cows being driven to slaughter at Les Halles refused to pass across it. When deciding later what to put in place of Louis XV’s statue, Louis-Philippe thought the obelisk would be ideal – having no political message, it wasn’t likely ever to be demolished or become the focus of popular discontent. It was erected with much pomp in October 1836 in the presence of 200,000 spectators, while an orchestra played tunes from Bellini’s I Puritani.

From the centre of the square there are magnificent views of the Champs-Elysées and Tuileries, and you can admire the alignment and symmetry of the Assemblée at the end of rue Royale, to the north. The Neoclassical Hôtel Crillon – the ultimate luxury address for visitors to Paris – and its twin, the Hôtel de la Marine, housing the Ministry of the Navy, flank the entrance to rue Royale, which, needless to say, meets the Voie Triomphale at a precise right angle.