Paris Attraction Place de la Concorde | Paris Travel Guide - Hotel Reservations

Place de la Concorde

The Place de la Concorde meaning Harmony Square, one of the major public squares of Paris is located in Paris, France. Place de la Concorde is 86,400 square metres which causes it to be the largest square in the city of love, Paris and it is placed at the Champs Elysees eastern end in the 8th arrondissement of Paris.

History

In 1755, Ange Jacques Gabriel designed Place de la Concorde as a moat skirted octagon between the Tuileries Gardens and the Champs Elysees. To give a honor to the king of the time, it was named Place Louis XV as it was full of fountains and statues. The area exhibited the king’s equestrian statue that was mostly sculpted by Edme Bouchardon and completed by Jean Baptiste Pigalle in 1748. Two glorious stone buildings were built at the northern end and they have exhibited the best representative forms of style architecture of Louis XV. The eastern building was the French Naval Ministry at the beginning. Then, the western edifice was chosen as a dwelling by the Duc d’Aumont after the construction. After that, the Comte de Crillon who gave his name to the famous luxury hotel, the Hotel de Crillon, bought it to live with his family up to 1907. The hotel during World War II became the German army’s headquarters and have occupied the structure nowadays. The statue of Louis XV of France was demolished at the time of the French Revolution and the name of the square became “”. At Place de la Concorde, the later government erected the guillotine to execute King Louis XVI on January 21st 1793 as the first remarkable one. Other significant names guillotined on the Place de la Revolution were Queen Marie Antoinette, Princess Elisabeth of France, Charlotte Corday, Madame du Barry, Georges Danton, Camille Desmoulins, Antoine Lavoisier, Maximilien Robespierre, Louis de Saint-Just and Olympe de Gouge. In 1794, 1300 people were executed and in 1795 was removed the guillotine from square. After the French Revolution, the place took a new name, ‘Place de la Concorde’ in 1799 as a symbol of reconciliation.

Some Characteristics

The famous Champs Elysees is to the west of Place de la Concorde.
The Tuileries Gardens are to the east .
The Musee de l’Orangerie and the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume bordering the Place de la Concorde are located in the Tuileries Gardens.
To the north of the Place are two stone structures. The French Naval Ministry is housed by the eastern one, and the Hotel de Crillon is by the western.
At the intersection of Avenue Gabriel and Rue Boissy d’Anglas is the Embassy of the United States.
The Rue de Rivoli is in the north-eastern corner.
The River Seine is located in the southern part.
Across the bridge is the Palais Bourbon which houses French National Assembly.
At the corners of the square can be seen some statues by Jacques Ignace Hittorff.