Place de la concorde, the Largest in Paris
The iconic Place de la Concorde in Paris, where the majestic Champs-Élysées begins, reveals a past full of history and emotion. But this famous square was not always so named.
In fact, it was laid out between 1755 and 1775 on the orders of King Louis XV, who demanded that the octagonal square be named after him. Royal appointments, weddings and banquets followed. Then came the French Revolution and the square took on the name of Place de la Liberté, where King Louis XVI and his wife Marie-Antoinette were guillotined. It was not until the reign of Louis Philippe I that the square was given its current name: Place de la Concorde, accompanied by its imposing 23 metre high obelisk. This change of name and layout had the noble intention of erasing the tumultuous traces of the political past of this square and of France as a whole.
Today, this magnificent square is famous for its prestigious hotels, the Hôtel de la Marine, the former royal furniture warehouse, and the Hôtel Crillon, its two monumental fountains, the Fountain of the Seas and the Fountain of the Rivers, and for the Luxor Obelisk, a must see, a gift from Méhémet Ali, Viceroy of Egypt, as a token of goodwill to King Charles X, and the oldest monument in Paris.
