Place de la Concorde
Place de la Concorde
Champs-Élysées ends as an avenue at Place de la Concorde.
A giant sea of asphalt with 84000 square meters of automotive traffic, laid out in 1755-1775. In its north eastern corner Louis XVI was guillotined. 1343 other victims of the Revolution were beheaded at the present entrance to the Tuileries garden.
The obelisk in the middle of the square is a gift from the viceroy of Egypt. It is 3300 years old and comes from Luxor in the Nile valley. It was re-erected here in 1836, weighs 220 tons and has a height of 23 meters, all of one single stone, three meters higher than Cleopatra’s needle on the Thames banks in London.
From the island in the middle of the square there are views to all directions. To the west along the axis of Champs-Élysées to Arc de Triomphe. To the south over Pont de la Concorde to French parliament in Palais Bourbon. To the north along Rue Royale to the Madeleine, with the Crillon hotel on the left side at the square. To the east through Tuileries to Palais du Louvre.
