Champs Elysees Research Paper

The Champs Elysees is not only a French center, but a world center for entertainment and sightseeing. The Champs is a broad avenue that stretches for 2 kilometers in an East-West direction through Paris’s 8th Arrondissement. At either end of the Champs are plazas: on the eastern end, the Place de la Concorde, and on the western end, the Place de l’Etoile. This short stretch between plazas is the center of much French and tourist activity, and has been the location of many important events throughout history.

According to the A View on Cities website, the location of the Champs was originally nothing more than “fields outside the center of Paris.” However, in 1616 Marie de Medicis gave orders for a tree-lined path to be laid out that would stretch eastward from her Palais des Tuileries (A View on Cities). The site goes on to explain that in 1667, the strip was redesigned by Andrew Le Notre, and the pathway gained the name “Grande Alle de Roule” or “Grand Cours.” It was not until 1694 that the path was renamed “Champs-Elysees,” or “Elysian Fields” in English. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the avenue was to develop its current form; in 1724 the avenue was extended to meet the Place de la Concorde, and street lamps and sidewalks were installed (A View on Cities). A few more changes were made to the Champs in the 1990s, when designer Bernard Huet decided to convert the side lanes into pedestrian zones, which means that “cars now only occupy half the width of this grand avenue” (A View on Cities). Today, the Champs is a host to numerous entertainment and nightlife events, and the avenue is one of the most famous streets in the world for shopping, eating, and tourism.

On the eastern end of the Champs is the Place de la Concorde, which, according to the Paris Pages, is the largest place in Paris and separates the Tuilerie gardens from the Champs Elysees. The Place de la Concorde was constructed from 1754 to 1763 and was designed by Louis XV’s architect, Jacques Ange Gabriel (Paris Pages). The place was originally built “to hold an equestrian statue of Louis XV that the city of Paris commissioned in 1748 from Bouchardon to offer to the king” (Paris Pages). However, during the French Revolution, the statue was torn down and replaced by a guillotine. The Place de la Concorde was temporarily renamed the “Place de la Revolution,” and many people, including Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI, were publicly executed there (Discover France). The place then went through a series of name changes, but it was finally decided that the place would again be called “Place de la Concorde” as a symbol of “the end of a troubled era and the hope for a better future” (Discover France).

The Place de la Concorde is octagonal in shape, with the Obelisk of Luxor at its center. The obelisk was given as a gift by Mohamed, the viceroy of Egypt, to Louis Phillipe (Paris Pages). According to the Discover France website, the obelisk used to be situated outside of the entrance to the Amon temple at Luxor and “is more than 3,300 years old and is decorated with hieroglyphics portraying the reigns of the pharaohs Ramses II and Ramses III.” The obelisk is 22.83 meters high, weighs 230 tons, and was installed in 1836 (Paris Pages). Although the obelisk is the focal point of the Place de la Concorde, it is not the only monument situated there. There are also 8 statues positioned at each corner of the octagon, and the statues represent 8 French cities: Lille, Strasbourg, Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux, Nantes, Brest and Rouen (Discover France). None of these small statues, however, can compare to the monumental Arc de Triomphe, which is located at the opposite end of the Champs Elysees.

The Place de l’Etoile (which was renamed the “Place Charles de Gaulle” in 1970 but still usually goes by its original name) is located at the western end of the Champs Elysees and is the crossroads of 12 avenues, including the Champs. At The Place de l’Etoile’s center is the famous Arc de Triomphe. According to the French Center of National Monuments, in the 18th century “the authorities wished to improve the vast area at the top of the Champs ElysÐ"©es, where five roads met.” Napoleon Bonaparte decided that he wanted to construct a monument at this location and dedicate it to his imperial army, because he “had seen the triumphal arches built by the Romans eighteen hundred years before” (Icons of France). Napoleon made the orders for the Arc to be built in 1806, with dimensions of 50 meters in height and 45 meters in width. However, work on The Arc was suspended due to the death of The Arc’s architect in 1811, and also because of the decline of Napoleon’s empire. Work did not resume until the monarchy had been restored in 1825, and The Arc was not finished until 1836 after Napoleon’s death (Icons of France).

Since its completion, The Arc de Triomphe has been the location of several important moments. For instance, in 1840, a procession carrying Napoleon’s ashes to his tomb passed under The Arc. In addition, the bodies of both Victor Hugo and an unidentified soldier are buried under The Arc, and “More than a million people have come