Place de la Concorde, Paris

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The Concorde Square (Place de la Concorde) was formerly called the Revolution Square (Place de la Révolution) as it was the site of the guillotine. Indeed, during the French Revolution, lot of famous persons become headless there. Now, instead of a guillotine, you could see an Obelisk. It was offered to France by Egypt and comes from the ruins of the temple of Ramses II.

Parisians have long diced with death at the Place de la Concorde. Over a hundred were trampled here at a fireworks display to celebrate the marriage of the future Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette and it wasn't all that many years later that the king and the queen (along more than a thousand others) were to meet their fate on the guillotine that was set up here during the bloody years of the Revolution. These days it's drivers, seemingly treating the place as a racetrack, and tourists, keen to examine the central obelisk more closely, who uphold the tradition.

This is the biggest square in Paris, surrounded by grand buildings and eight statues depicting the major cities of France, with lovely fountains and two handsome colonnades. Right in the centre - the hub around which all the cars swirl and race - is a magnificent pink granite Egyptian obelisk. 3300 years old, 23 metres high and weighing over 200 tonnes, it replaces both the statue of the king whose reign the square was built to glorify and the dreaded guillotine -symbol of all the excesses of the Reign of Terror. Placed here in 1832 (after a journey from Egypt that took three years and considerable engineering skill) the obelisk was seen as a splendidly non-political monument after the turbulence of the past.

leyle

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ok, maybe only taken for granted by me

For me it's Tuileries, Champs, etc. and I always shoot the insane traffic to get to the Concourde fountain & cool off, but for some reason I never take a pic of it. (?)

anyway this time I did, and got lucky that evening as the full moon just happened to be coming up.

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Most people are recommending a visit in this square, it's nice though, just beside the huge park, I think it's the Jardin Du Luxembourg (I hope am not mistaken on this). Also a short walk will lead you to Champs Elysee, in fact, you could see the Arch De Triomphe from the square as well as the Tour de Eiffel.

What you will see here? The 3200-year old Egyptian obelisk from the temple of Ramses II (I guess, Egyptians viceroys of the olden days have the habit of giving away relics particularly obelisks as gift to kings or rulers of other mighty nations, I saw similar obelisk erected in Sultanahmet, Istanbul), the bronze fountain called "La fontaine des Mers" and another one called "La fontaine des Mers".

You must see everything possible in the time you have to spend in Paris. Here we are at the Place de la Concorde. Behind us you can see Hotel Crillon, on our right is a direct line of site to the Arc de Triomphe, on our left is the Jardin Tuleries and in front of us is the River Seine. Imagine, everywhere I went there was something beautiful, famous or historical to see.

Hotel de Crillon is located at Place de la Concorde and has an interesting history from 1775 when the architect Louis Troud completed the project until 1909 when the Mansion was combined with adjacent buildings to create the largest and most luxurious Palace in Paris. The hotel was once owned by the Count of Crillon, who lent his name.

Prices for a room or suite of rooms begins at 490 Euros and moves upwards to 1250 Euros for a night's stay. Of course, this includes, buffet breakfast, a box of homemade chocolates, a bottle of champagne, flowers and daily newspapers.

I didn't include this in the Accommodation section because I believe that most people who could afford spending the night at Hotel de Crillon, wouldn't be looking on travel sites for a place to stay.

However, this is the perfect place for those of us who, sometimes have an opulent dream and would think it reasonable, to save up for and splurge on such a luxurious experience.

Can you see in the photo I'm thinking, "When I win the lottery I'll come here to stay and invite my friends for lunch in The Patio, Tea in the Winter Garden, dinner at Le Ambassardeurs Restaurant or cocktails in Bar le Crillon!" I am very generous in my dreams.

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The center of the Place is occupied by a giant Egyptian obelisk decorated with hieroglyphics exalting the reign of the pharaoh Ramses II. It once marked the entrance to the Luxor Temple. The viceroy of Egypt, Mehemet Ali, presented the 3,300-year-old Luxor Obelisk to France in 1829. King Louis-Philippe had it placed in the centre of Place de la Concorde in 1833.

You'll pass by it if you travelled from Champs-Elysées to the Louvre.. This is quite a long walk but you'll see that a lot of people doing just that..

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At the centre of the Place de la Concorde, a 23 metres high Obelisk is located. This pillar has been here since 1836, but was built almost 3300 years ago, in 1250 B.C. in Egypt. The Obelisk is one of the original two obelisks of Luxor. It is covered with hieroglifes that tell about the life of Farao Ramses II.

The Obelisk was a gift of the Egyptian Vice-King for the French King. It took two years to get the 22 tons weighing stone in Paris, and after that another 3 years to get it in place at the centre of the Place de la Concorde.

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The Place de la Concorde is the biggest square of Paris. It is situated next to the Seine and devides the Gardens of Tuileries and the Champs Elysees. Jacques Ange Gabriel, the privat architect of Louis XV, began the construction in 1754 and finished it in 1763. The place then was called Place Louis XV, that was built to place a statue of the King on. The square had the shape of octagon, surrounded by canals, that nowadays don´t excist any more.

The statue became the crossingpoint of two lines: the East-West line, going from the Louvre towards the Champs Elysees. The second line is the North-South line, going from the Rue Royale towards the bridge over the Seine.

During the revolution a lot of execution took place here, like Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette, Danton, Robespierre and 2800 others between 1793 and 1795. People said the smell of blood was so strong, that the cattle refused to cross the square.

After the revolution the name of the square was changed a lot of times: First into place de la Concorde, then place Louis XV, place Louis XVI, place de la Chartre, and again place de la Concorde to symbolize an end of a difficult period and to hope on a better future.

The statue is replaced by The Obelisk, which is the middlepoint of the oval, and the two fountains are made in the same period. On every corner of the octagon, a statue symbolises one of the big cities of France: Lille, Strasbourg, Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux, Nantes, Brest and Rouen. The horses at the beginning of the Champs Elysees are copies of the original ones of Marly, that are to be seen in the Louvre.

Standing on the Place de la Concorde you can see many of the most impressive monuments of the city: The Louvre, the Eiffeltower and The Arc the Triomphe.