Concorde métro station was part of the very first metro line, the 1, it was opened in the summer of 1900. It takes the name of the Place de la Concorde above. However, barely two months after its inauguration, Concorde is the site of the very first metro accident, with 38 injured following a collision of two metro trains. In 1910, metro line 12 is added to the station, later line 8.
The platform of line 12 will delight solvers of crossword puzzles and players of Scrabble with its lettered ceramic tiles. Do you have the patience to read the text, namely the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789? It is spelled out without spaces, and if you are looking for punctuation marks, you can find them neatly grouped at the bottom!
Following an equestrian statue of Louis XV, a statue of liberty and a statue of Louis XVI, the Luxor obelisk has stood at the center of the Place de la Concorde since the 1830s.
Actually, there were two obelisks given to France by Egypt. Jean-François Champollion, the French scholar who deciphered the hieroglyphs, chose which would be transported to France first.
A ship had to be built specifically for its transport as it had to be able to navigate the Nile, the Mediterranean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Channel and the Seine, all with the 23m-long 230 ton obelisk aboard. The journey ended up taking almost two years.
Details of the complex machinery needed to transport and erect it were added to the pedestal in 1839.
Today’s gold-leaf pyramid cap was added in 1998.
In 1981, President François Mitterrand officially renounced possession of the second obelisk, restoring it to Egypt, where it can still be seen at the Luxor Temple.
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!
In France, and even more so in Paris, a place royale, literally a royal square, was meant to surround a royal statue, mostly an equestrian statue in the Roman tradition, but later also pedestrian statues. People could walk in the square and admire the statue of their king. There are five places royales in Paris that have undergone changes over the course of history.
1 – Place des Vosges
Initial name: Place Royale Inauguration: 1612 Statue: Louis XIII Origin of the name: The French Département Vosges (in eastern France), was the first to pay its taxes under the French Revolution. Location: Marais, 4tharrondissement Story: Ordered by Henri IV, it was inauguration at the occasion of the engagement of Louis XIII with Anne of Austria.
2 – Place Dauphine
Inauguration: 1614 Statue: no statue in the square, but a statue of Henri IV stands in the middle of the Pont Neuf Origin of the name: Named for the Dauphin, the heir apparent, the future Louis XIII. Location: Île de la Cité, 1starrondissement Story: Created by Henri IV following the construction of the Pont Neuf. (It’s actually a triangle, by the way.)
3 – Place des Victoires
Inauguration: 1686 Statue: Louis XIV as Roman Emperor Origin of the name: in celebration of the military victories of Louis XIV Location: 1st and 2ndarrondissements Story: Financed by the Duke de la Feuillade, Marshal of France, it is the first square created by a private individual to celebrate his sovereign. (Also it is actually a circle, not a square.)
4 – Place Vendôme
Initial name: Place Louis Le Grand (Louis XIV) Other names: Place des Conquêtes (Conquests Square), and during the Revolution, Place des Piques (Pike Square, from the pikes on which were displayed the heads of the beheaded by the guillotine) Inauguration: 1699 Statue: initially Louis XIV (destroyed in 1792), presently Napoléon Ier at the top of the column Origin of the current name: The square was built in the place of the Hôtel de Vendôme, a hôtel particulier or townhouse. Location: 1starrondissement between rue de la Paix and the Tuileries Gardens Story: Initiated by Louis XIV, his grand project never saw the light of day. In the end, the square was built by the City of Paris. One of its prestigious addresses houses the Ritz.
5 – Place de la Concorde
Initial name: Place Louis XV Other name: Place de la Révolution Inauguration: 1772 Statue: Louis XV, destroyed and replaced by the Egyptian obelisk Origin of the name: Reconciliation of the French people at the end of the Terror (bloody period during the French Revolution) Location: 8tharrondissement, between the Tuileries Gardens and the Champs-Élysées, on the “royal axis” Story: During the Terror, it was the location of the guillotine where among many others, King Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antoinette were beheaded.
