Concorde Square

Place de la Concorde in the 8th arrondissement is, at 7.56 hectares, the largest square in Paris, a monumental hinge between the Tuileries Garden and the Champs-Elysees. Ange-Jacques Gabriel designed the octagonal layout in 1755 in homage to Louis XV, whose equestrian statue once stood at its centre. During the Revolution it became the city's execution ground: in 1793 Louis XVI fell here under the guillotine, followed by Marie Antoinette, Danton and Robespierre, more than 1,100 people in total. In 1836 the Egyptian viceroy Muhammad Ali gave France the 23-metre pink granite Luxor obelisk that now marks the centre. Two fountains by Jakob Ignaz Hittorff, eight allegorical statues of French cities and grand hotels such as the Crillon complete the ensemble. Traffic roars ceaselessly across the square.