Place de la Concorde
The Place de la Concorde (in French, Place de la Concorde) is located at the beginning of the avenue des Champs-Élysées in the VIII arrondissement of Paris, in France. It is the second largest in France after the Place des Quinconces in Bordeaux.
History
Beginnings
The city of Paris, in the person of its aldermen and vendors, decided in 1748 to erect an equestrian statue of Louis XV to celebrate the recovery of the king after the illness he suffered in Metz, for which launched a contest in order to find the best location. Nineteen architects participate in this competition, including Boffrand and Soufflot. One of them, Ange-Jacques Gabriel, proposes retaining a simple gravel esplanade, without function, without design, located at the end of the Tuileries Garden, and which was called the "Esplanade du Bridge" in reference to a bridge made of wood that then saved the moat that borders the terrace of the Tuileries. Although eccentric, the place can be used for the urbanization of the new neighborhoods that tend to be built to the west of the capital.
The King owns a large part of these lands, which limits expropriations. Before the decision was officially made, it was negotiated with the heirs of John Law, owners of the land necessary for the creation of the royal square, inscribed in the vast network of royal squares located in many French cities, such as Rennes, Rouen, Bordeaux, Dijon, Nantes and Montpellier.
This square is developed according to a very open principle, because it is part of an area still untouched by urbanization. Enhanced by the façades designed by Ange-Jacques Gabriel, the Louis XV square is an architectural intermediate between the leafy gardens of the Tuileries Garden and the green perspective of the Champs-Élysées.
In 1753, a competition was launched for the organization of the esplanade, reserved for members of the Royal Academy of Architecture. Gabriel, director of the Academy in his capacity as First Architect of the King, is in charge of establishing the project, which takes the best ideas from the competitors. His project is accepted in 1755. The agreement between the City of Paris, the King's representatives and Law's heirs is signed in 1758.
In exchange for the land they give up, the heirs will receive the building located in the northwest of the square, as well as the land that remains to be built on both sides of the future Rue Royale. They agree to pay for the construction of the facades of all the buildings, of which they will have their property, and they accept the easement of establishing public galleries on the plaza.
Since the French Revolution
During the French Revolution, the square was the place of passage required by processions, improvised or prepared by the protocol of the festivities. It will be one of the great meeting places of the revolutionary period, especially when the guillotine was installed there. This was where Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were executed. An estimated 1,119 people were publicly beheaded in the square during the French Revolution, making it a bloody scene.
Since July 12, 1789, the busts of Jacques Necker and Philippe d'Orleans have been exhibited there; the prince of Lambesc and his dragons charge the protesters. The next day, the crowd finds the weapons from the Furniture Storage (located in the northeast building) for the storming of the Bastille. On October 6, Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and the Dauphin, are returned from Versailles to Paris by the people, and make their entrance to the Tuileries Palace through Louis XV Square.
On August 11, 1792, the statue of Louis XV is toppled from its pedestal and then sent to the foundry. The Plaza de Luis XV is then renamed Plaza de la Revolución.
After the end of "El Terror", the government decides to rename the Plaza de la Revolución as Plaza de la Concordia.
Place of celebrations
French National Day military parade
The Marseillaise (1989)
In July 1989, during the bicentennial celebrations of the French Revolution, one million people attended the La Marseillaise parade. More than 100 television networks broadcast the opera ballet to millions of viewers. Six thousand extras walked the Champs-Élysées, from the Arc de Triomphe to the Place de la Concorde.
It was both a parade and a static spectacle in the square, where 35 heads of state or government and 16,800 guests were waiting. The President of the French Republic, François Mitterrand, followed the parade from a grandstand, accompanied by the German Chancellor, Helmut Kohl.
The show, devised by Jean-Paul Goude, contained a dozen paintings in which the protagonists of the Revolution, France and its provinces, parade along with representatives of Africa, the United States, the United Kingdom, or the Soviet Union. Although some media advanced a cost of 150 million francs.
Monuments
Luxor Obelisk
Buildings
- Hotel Crillon
This hotel of 103 rooms and 44 suites occupies one of the two identical stone buildings, divided by Real Street (Rue Royale) and that were built in 1758 by the architect Louis-François Trouard by order of Louis XV. The facades were designed by Ange-Jacques Gabriel, in charge of the joint project of the Plaza de la Concordia. Initially, the two buildings had to function as official buildings. However, the western building was transformed into a hotel that was very frequented by Maria Antonieta and her friends from the high society. There, she took piano lessons. Paradoxically she was guillotined in front of this hotel.
In 1788, François-Félix-Dorothee Berton des Balbes, Count of Crillon, acquired the hotel and his family led it until 1907 when it was renovated by the Société du Louvre controlled by the Taittinger family. Due to the solidarity tax on fortune, the Taittinger family must have given control of their hotels to the American group. Starwood Capital in August 2005.- Hôtel de la Marine
Since its completion in 1774, the building was the headquarters of the Gardemeuble de la Couronne, a department of the Maison du Roi that administered all the movable property of the Royal Family, whether furniture, tapestries, antiques, bronzes, armours, weapons of ceremony or the Crown Jewels. Part of the collection (which was not in the royal residences) remained at the headquarters of Paris. So, the Hôtel du Gardemeuble the public opened every first Tuesday of every month, from Cuasimodo to San Martín. The collection was divided into four rooms: the Salle d'Armes housed the old armor and weapons of the monarchs, the Galerie des Meubles exhibit large boats, comfortable and upholstery, the Galerie des bronzes hosted the collection of bronze sculptures and, finally, the Salle des Bijoux contained the Crown Jewels.
In its southeast corner, overlooking the Tuileries Garden, there was the appartement of intendant général: Pierre Elisabeth de Fontanieu (1767-1784) and later Marc-Antoine Thierry de Ville-d'Avray (1784-1792). Other parts hôtel They also contained a chapel, a laundry room, a library, workshops and blocks.
The interior decoration was the work of the architect Jacques Gondouin, inspired by Piranesi, and constitutes an important stage in the evolution of taste in the eighteenth century. It represents the passage of the rocky style to early neoclassicism.Fonts
The Sources of Concordia (in French: Fontaines de la Concorde) are two monumental sources located in the Plaza de la Concordia in the center of Paris in France. They were designed by Jacques Ignace Hittorff, and completed in 1840 during King Louis-Philippe's reign. The southern source commemorates the maritime trade and industry of France, and the source to the north commemorates navigation and trade in the rivers of France.
Before the French Revolution, during the period 1753-1772, when the square was called Louis XV Square, the architect Jacques-Ange Gabriel designed a plan for a monumental statue of Louis XV with two sources, but due to the lack of water, it was never carried out. Gabriel finished the building of the Marina Secretariat with a view to the square - his presence later influenced the choice of topics for the Concorde Fontaines.
|
Contenido relacionado
Netherlands
Republic of Karelia
The baggin