The Place de la Concorde is the biggest public square in Paris and one of the five places royales.
It was created in 1763 and has changed names several times, reflecting political regimes and historic events. Its first name was place Louis XV, until 1792 when it became Place de la Révolution. During the Directory, the Consulate and the First Empire (of Napoléon Ier), it was called Place de la Concorde. It became place Louis XV again, then place Louis XVI during the Restauration (when the monarchy was restored after Napoléon and his empire fell), place de la Charte in 1830 and finally Place de la Concorde under the July Monarchy.
During the Revolution, the guillotine was placed here several times. King Louis XVI was among those decapitated there.
Since the 1830s, the Luxor Obelisk dominates the Place de la Concorde, a monument older than the city of Paris itself.
The Jardin des Tuileries is a 55 acres parc located between the Louvre and the Place de la Concorde. Its name derives from the tuileries (brickyards) that were in its place in the 13th century. Catherine de’ Medici, widow of king Henry II and mother of king François II, bought the lands which lay west of the Louvre and outside the Charles V city wall to have a new palace built with more space for gardens. Construction of the Palais des Tuileries began in 1564, and the Italian Gardens were set up on the lands between the new palace and what is today the Place de la Concorde.
The Palais des Tuileries burnt down during the events of the Commune and its remains were demolished in 1883.
This is where the Tulieries Palace stood
The historic axis has a slight kink at the Tuileries Palace site as you will notice if you stand at the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel. The straight line that runs from Concorde along the Champs Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile and beyond it to the Grande Arche de La Défense, was originally centered on the façade of the Tuileries Palace. The line east of the Tuileries Palace was centered on the façade of the Louvre, and since the two façades are at slightly different angles, the line in its continuation is not straight.
Look closely at these two images, and you will see the line is not straight!
An Arc de Triomphe is a Triumphal Arch, a concept dating back to Roman times. This particular arch was built by Napoléon Ier in the style of the Arch of Septimius Severus on the Forum Romanum. In the same way at that Roman arch, it commemorates an army and, obviously, a triumph, namely that of the Grande Armée in the years prior to its construction which began in 1806.
But what is a carrousel? In this case, the term refers to a type of military dressage. The Place du Carrousel where the arch is located takes its name from the Grand Carrousel, which took place there on June 5-6, 1662, on the orders of Louis XIV to celebrate the birth of his firstborn son Louis (who despite being the Dauphin, did not become king after his father).
The arch was not yet part of a special axis, even though planning and construction of the Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile began the same year. In fact, it was built right in front of the Tuileries Palace that closed off the Louvre on its western end and became its gate of honor.
Instead of the destroyed Tuileries Palace, you see elements of the axe historique
The main entrance When the Louvre was a royal palace, its main entrance was on the east side, the majestic gate facing the church Saint Germain l’Auxerrois. The triangular bas-relief on the pediment consists of two stone slaps each 17.5 meters long and weighing several tons.
Louvre – east gate
Napoléon transformed into Louis XIV Napoléon Ier was represented at the center, with one of the Muses writing “Napoleon completed the Louvre”. This didn’t please King Louis XVIII, and the inscription was changed to “Ludovico Magno”, in reference to the Sun King Louis XIV. The crown was removed from Napoléon’s head and replaced with the curly wig of the Sun King. However, Napoléon’s face remained, along with a shield featuring his imperial eagle and his bees.
Napoléon transformed into Louis XIV
From castle to palace King François Ier (1494-1547) began the transformation of the Château du Louvre to the Palais du Louvre by knocking down the keep. His son and successor Henri II continued his project.
“1541 – François I starts the Louvre”
The Pyramids The Louvre Pyramid was a subject of controversy when its project was presented. It was at the center of a project improving access to the museum, which couldn’t handle the growing visitor influx. As confirmed by the Louvre, it consists of 673 panes, not 666 as myths will have it. (Count them if you want.)
The Louvre pyramid
The inverted pyramid is an upside-down version that you can see from the Carrousel du Louvre shopping mall.
If you want to see the pyramid, don’t get off the métro at the stop Pyramides, however. This metro station is located on Avenue de l’Opéra [link], and the name is a reference to the Battle of the Pyramids of the French army under Napoléon Ier in 1798. Nothing to do with the Louvre pyramid, inaugurated in 1989.
Free Entry Did you know children have free entry to the Louvre Museum? In fact, up to the age of 18, entry is free, and if your country of residence belongs to the European Economic Area (EU, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein), it’s even up to 26 years.
The pyramid is also the main entrance to the Louvre museum
This Roman Catholic church is located in the 1starrondissement, just across the street from the Louvre. Its belfry is the starting point of the axe historique. Saint Germain was the parish church for the inhabitants of the Louvre Palace. Since September 2019, it stands in for the religious services of Notre Dame cathedral.
It is said that the church’s main bell rang in the Saint Bartholonew’s Day massacre on the night of August 23-24, 1572.
The Saint Germain l’Auxerrois church belfry is the starting point of the axe historique
I’m sure you have no trouble spotting the Champs Élysées avenue on a map of Paris. It’s long, large, and straight. Its two end points are easily made out – the Place Charles de Gaulle-Étoile with the Arc de Triomphe on one end, the Place de la Concorde with the Tuileries Gardens and the Louvre on the other. But did you know there’s more to this straight line?
View of Concorde, Tuileries Gardens and Louvre from the Eiffel Tower
The axe historique (historical axis) or voie triomphale (triumphal way) has a long history that goes back to the 16th century when Catherine de’ Medici, widow of Henry II, had the Tuileries Palace built. The palace burned down during the Commune events, it would be placed between the two “open ends” of the Louvre.
In the 17th century, André Le Nôtre, architect of the Versailles palace gardens, used the royal residence of the Tuileries Palace as reference when he created an avenue running westwards, planning as far as today’s Rond-Point des Champs Élysées.
Today, the axe historique starts at the Louvre, or even at the bell tower of the Saint Germain l’Auxerrois church and ends at the Grande Arche de la Défense.
Let’s explore the axe historique step by step, east to west.
Montmartre today is one of the most well-known tourist sites of Paris. Its name can be traced back to Gallo-Roman times, when there was a temple dedicated to Mars, the Roman god of War, making the hill mons Martis, the hill of Mars. Or it might come from the hill of martyrs, mons Marthyrum, as Saint Denis and two fellow persecuted Christians were decapitated here.
The hill, called la Butte de Montmartre, is 130m high and constitutes the highest point of Paris.
When France’s municipalities and départements were created following a decree of November 1789, Montmartre became a municipality in the département Seine. It had difficult beginnings, as the recently constructed General Farmers tax wall cut the municipality in two.
When the city of Paris was extended from the General Farmers tax wall to the Adolphe Thiers wall, the municipality of Montmartre was incorporated in the city of Paris and became part of the 18tharrondissement. The small section outside the Thiers wall was incorporated into the municipality of Saint-Ouen.
It is in Montmartre that the revolutionary uprising of the Paris Commune began in 1871 following the lost war against Prussia., sparked by the attempt of the newly formed Third French Republic’s government to recover a large number of canons the French army had stored on the hill during the Franco-Prussian War.
During the 19th and 20th century, Montmartre attracted numerous painters, such as Picasso, Toulouse-Lautrec, Van Gogh, or Modigliani.
The Sacré Cœur (Holy Heart) Basilica was built after the Franco-Prussian war and represents a national penance both for the actions of the Paris Commune and the French defeat in the war. The construction was financed entirely by private donations. Inside the basilica, you can see stones with names of donors engraved.
One Friday night when I was marshal at the Paris inline skate, I chatted with some tourists while guarding an intersection on the Avenue de l’Opéra. The tourists were from the U.S., and I told them that the opera building they could see at the end of the avenue was indeed the one with the phantom and the underground lake.
There are many tales about the phantom and how a real person might have inspired Gaston Laroux’ story (which became the basis for Andrew Llyod Webber’s musical), but the lake is real.
Remember the problem with the high groundwater level I mentioned in my previous post?
The building site was swampy, and water rising from below hampered the construction until finally, they encased the “lake” and used the weight of the water in the foundation of the building. The cistern remains accessible, but you can’t take a boat to row across it. However, the Paris fire-fighters use it for diving training.
But the phantom? A combination of mysterious noises during the first shows, rumors about an underground lake and the never fully explained accident in 1896, when the counterweight of the chandelier fell down and killed the concierge.
Box number five is still reserved for the phantom, as the Opéra Garnier itself confirmed in a Museum Week tweet a few years ago:
From its completion in 1875 until 1989, the Paris opera house on the Avenue de l’Opéra in the 9tharrondissement was simply known as “Opéra de Paris”. But with the completion of the Opéra Bastille on Place de la Bastille arose the need to distinguish between the two, and so the old opera house is now referred to by the name of its architect, the Opéra Garnier.
A failed assassination attempt on emperor Napoléon III when he visited the then-opera Le Peletier with his wife in January 1858 accelerated the project of a new opera house. The site was chosen by Baron Haussmann who planned it to surround it with the characteristic Immeubles de Rapport (Revenue Houses) that you’ll remember from a previous post.
The large Avenue de l’Opéra Haussmann planned would not only create a vast perspective and showcase the new opera house, it would also allow for a swift and unencumbered escape route for the emperor from the opera to the Louvre in the event of another attack.
Still today, the Avenue de l’Opéra has no trees so as not to obstruct the view.
The chosen site however turned out to be far from ideal to accommodate a palatial building such as the opera house. Despite sinking wells and having pumps operate non-stop, the groundwater level wouldn’t go down. In the end, Garnier designed a double foundation including an enormous cistern.
At the occasion of the World Fair in 1867, still under Napoléon III, the main façade was inaugurated. An anecdote from this inauguration goes like this. The empress, shocked at the sight of the opera building, asks “What kind of style is that? That’s no style! It’s neither Greek, nor Louis XV, not even Louis XVI!” The architect, Garnier replies: “No, the time of those styles are over. This is Napoléon III style!”
The Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71 not only slowed down the works but it also brought about the end of the Second Empire. The Third Republic that followed had financial difficulties and didn’t approve of everything the opera symbolized, and sent Garnier packing, but when the Le Peletier opera burned in 1873, he was called back to finish the works.
Poor Garnier – once the opera was finally completed in 1875, the Third Republic, cutting ties with the past, didn’t even invite him to the inauguration and he had to buy his own ticket!
Until 1989 and the Opéra Bastille, the Opéra Garnier was the biggest theater house in the world. Today, it mainly shows ballet by the Ballet de l’Opéra de Paris but also the occasional classic opera.
As I explained in my previous post, on Heritage Days in September, doors are opened to the public that remain closed the rest of the year. Very popular places to visit are the presidential palace (Palais de l’Élysée) and the various ministries, housed in hôtels or palaces in the center of Paris.
Several years ago, I visited the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs in a building on the riverside road Quai d’Orsay, name which was transferred to the ministry by metonymy. “The Quay d’Orsay remained silent on this question”, a journalist might report.
King Henry II (son of François Ier) named the first minister of foreign affairs in 1547, Claude de l’Aubespine. The function was called Secretary of State, and Claude was in charge of the relations with Champagne, Burgundy, Bresse, Savoy, Germany and Switzerland. (He started small.)
The minister’s office and dining room
The Quay d’Orsay was built in 1844-55 specifically to house Foreign Affairs. The interior is in the style of Napoléon III, with the exception of the bathrooms set up in 1938 for the visit of King George VI and his wife Queen Elizabeth (parents and predecessors of Queen Elizabeth II).
Bathrooms of Queen Elizabeth (silver) and King George VI (gold)
In the Salon de l’Horloge, then-Foreign Affairs minister Robert Schuman pronounced on May 9, 1950 the Schuman Declaration, which laid the foundation for the European integration process resulting in the European Union. This is why May 9 is Europe Day.
