This giant roundabout where twelve avenues meet, called Place de l’Étoile, Square of the Star, exists since around 1670. It received the Star name some sixty years later, as even then roads and paths crossed on this hill, giving the intersection the shape of a star.
When the General Farmers city wall was built in 1787, passing to the east of the square, the barrière de l’Étoile city gate was set up in the vicinity.
The Arc de Triomphe was built in its center on Napoléon Ier’s orders. It construction began in 1806 and took 30 years. From 1845 to 1855, visitors to the Arc de Triomphe could look down onto a racetrack.
During the Second Empire, the star formed by the avenues was completed and the square was redesigned by an architect under Baron Haussmann as part of his reorganization of Paris. Today it is the second-largest square of Paris after the Place de la Concorde.
In November 1970, the square was renamed Place Charles de Gaulle following the death of the general. It is still frequently referred to as Place de l’Étoile, and the métro and RER station below bears the name Charles de Gaulle-Étoile (which helps avoid confusion with the airport destination of the same name).
