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Place de La Concorde
by Serban Brebenel
Known as Place Louis XV until the
Revolution, Place de la Concorde's initial purpose was to serve as the
setting for a grandiose equestrian statue of Louis XV and the starting
point of the Champ-Elysées Avenue. The great 18th-century
architect Jacques-Ange Gabriel drew up plans to fill the then-vacant
area with an open space and a pair of symmetrical palaces at the
northern end. His vision of an octagon can still be made out, despite
numerous changes. A kind of moat surrounded the square, with six
bridges for crossing over and a stone railing. During the 19th
century, prostitutes congregated in the moat until it was filled in
1852. Gabriel also designed the two palaces, which fulfilled several
functions over the years. Today, one of them houses the Ministry of the
Navy, the other the Hotel Crillon.
An equestrian statue of Louis XV stood in
the center. Began by Edme Bouchardon, the monument was finished by his
friend Jean-Baptiste Pigalle (today's Place Pigalle was named after
him) and inaugurated in 1763. The statue faced east, towards the city
and the Tuileries. On August 11, 1792, the day after the abolition of
the French monarchy, it was pulled down by a mob. The center of the
square remained empty until King Louis-Philippe erected the obelisk in
1836.
Louis-Philippe made several changes bringing
the square closer to what we see today. The first was the obelisk,
offered by Mehmet Ali, the Egyptian pasha. The 23-meter high, 230-ton
granite needle, which dates back to the 12 th century B.C., was brought
from the Temple of Ramses. It took four hours to set it up on the
pedestal as the royal family looked on from one of the Navy Ministry's
balconies.
In 1835, statues representing eight French cities—Brest, Rouen,
Marseille, Lille, Lyon, Strasbourg, Nantes and Bordeaux—were
erected around the square. Look for the statue of Brest: it is said
that this is the spot where the guillotine stood and King Louis XVI was
beheaded on January 21, 1793, followed by Marie-Antoinette and
thousands of other victims of the Reign of Terror.
Click here to read Serban Brebenel's feature on Place Vendôme.
Click here to read Serban Brebenel's feature on Place Charles de Gaulle.
Copyright (c) 2007 - www.paris-hotel-by-district.com CH. All rights reserved.
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