Place de l'Étoile
Encyclopedia
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, the meeting point of twelve straight avenues (hence its historic name, which translates as "Square of the Star") including the Champs-Élysées
Champs-Élysées
The Avenue des Champs-Élysées is a prestigious avenue in Paris, France. With its cinemas, cafés, luxury specialty shops and clipped horse-chestnut trees, the Avenue des Champs-Élysées is one of the most famous streets and one of the most expensive strip of real estate in the world. The name is...
which continues to the east. It was renamed in 1970 following the death of General and President Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
. It is still often referred to by its original name, and the nearby metro station retains the designation Charles de Gaulle - Étoile.
Paris Axe historique
Axe historique
The Axe historique is a line of monuments, buildings and thoroughfares that extends from the centre of Paris, France, to the west. It is also known as the "Voie Triomphale" ....
("historical axis") cuts through the Arc de Triomphe
Arc de Triomphe
-The design:The astylar design is by Jean Chalgrin , in the Neoclassical version of ancient Roman architecture . Major academic sculptors of France are represented in the sculpture of the Arc de Triomphe: Jean-Pierre Cortot; François Rude; Antoine Étex; James Pradier and Philippe Joseph Henri Lemaire...
, which stands at the centre of the Place de l'Étoile.
History
The original name of the area was the Butte Chaillot ("Chaillot mound", named after the locality). At the time it was the point of convergence of several hunting trails. The Marquis de MarignyAbel-François Poisson, marquis de Marigny
Abel-François Poisson de Vandières, marquis de Marigny and marquis de Menars , often referred to simply as marquis de Marigny, was a French nobleman who served as the director general of the King's Buildings...
constructed monumental roadworks, completed in 1777, on the mound when he was establishing the plantations along the Champs Élysées. This work included paving of the road in the form of a star, as it still exists today. The junction became known as the Place de l'Étoile. There is no pedestrian access to the Arc de Triomphe from any of the twelve avenues as there is constant movement of automobile traffic on and around the road junction, but an underpass is accessible to the Arc de Triomphe.
In 1787, during the construction of the Wall of the Farmers-General
Wall of the Farmers-General
The Wall of the Farmers-General was built between 1784 and 1791 by the Ferme générale, the corporation of tax farmers. It was one of the several city walls of Paris built between the early Middle Ages to the mid 19th century. It was 24 kilometers long and roughly followed the route now occupied by...
(Mur des Fermiers généraux), la Barrière de l'Étoile (also known as the Barrière de Neuilly) was built to the design of Claude Nicolas Ledoux
Claude Nicolas Ledoux
Claude-Nicolas Ledoux was one of the earliest exponents of French Neoclassical architecture. He used his knowledge of architectural theory to design not only in domestic architecture but town planning; as a consequence of his visionary plan for the Ideal City of Chaux, he became known as a utopian...
for the collection of the octroi
Octroi
Octroi is a local tax collected on various articles brought into a district for consumption.-Antiquity:Octroi taxes have a respectable antiquity, being known in Roman times as vectigalia...
tax at the entrance to Paris. The wall and the two buildings built on either side of the Place de l'Étoile were demolished in the nineteenth century.
The Place de l'Étoile and the avenues leading to it were extensively redesigned as part of Baron Haussmann
Baron Haussmann
Georges-Eugène Haussmann, commonly known as Baron Haussmann , was a French civic planner whose name is associated with the rebuilding of Paris...
's urban planning projects.
Description
The twelve avenues, clockwise from the north, are the following:- Avenue de WagramAvenue de WagramL’avenue de Wagram is a street in the 8th and 17th arrondissements of Paris, between the place de Wagram and the place Charles-de-Gaulle . It is 1.5 km long and 36m wide. It is named after Napoleon's 1809 victory at the battle of Wagram and is cut by the place des Ternes...
, thus called since the Second French EmpireSecond French EmpireThe Second French Empire or French Empire was the Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, between the Second Republic and the Third Republic, in France.-Rule of Napoleon III:...
, and boulevard de l'Étoile or boulevard Bezons before - Avenue Hoche: avenue de la Reine-HortenseHortense de BeauharnaisHortense Eugénie Cécile Bonaparte , Queen Consort of Holland, was the stepdaughter of Emperor Napoleon I, being the daughter of his first wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais. She later became the wife of the former's brother, Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland, and the mother of Napoleon III, Emperor of...
during the Second Empire and boulevard Monceau before - Avenue de Friedland since the Second Empire and boulevard Beaujon before
- Avenue des Champs-ÉlyséesChamps-ÉlyséesThe Avenue des Champs-Élysées is a prestigious avenue in Paris, France. With its cinemas, cafés, luxury specialty shops and clipped horse-chestnut trees, the Avenue des Champs-Élysées is one of the most famous streets and one of the most expensive strip of real estate in the world. The name is...
- Avenue Marceau: avenue JoséphineJoséphine de BeauharnaisJoséphine de Beauharnais was the first wife of Napoléon Bonaparte, and thus the first Empress of the French. Her first husband Alexandre de Beauharnais had been guillotined during the Reign of Terror, and she had been imprisoned in the Carmes prison until her release five days after Alexandre's...
during the Second Empire - Avenue d'IénaAvenue d'IénaThe Avenue d'Iéna is a tree-lined avenue in the XVIe arrondissement of Paris, running from the Trocadéro to the Place de l'Étoile. Passing through Place d'Iéna, Place de l'Amiral de Grasse, Place de l'Uruguay and Place Richard de Coudenhove Kalergi on the way...
- Avenue KléberAvenue KléberAvenue Kleber is one of the avenues in Paris. It is one of the twelve avenues leading out of the Arc De Triomphe. It was named after Jean Baptiste Kléber, a French general during the French Revolutionary Wars....
: avenue du Roi-de-RomeNapoleon II of FranceNapoléon II , after 1818 known as Franz, Duke of Reichstadt, was the son of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, and his second wife, Marie Louise of Austria...
during the Second Empire and boulevard de PassyPassyPassy is an area of Paris, France, located in the XVIe arrondissement, on the Right Bank. It is traditionally home to many of the city's wealthiest residents.Passy was formerly a commune...
before - Avenue Victor HugoAvenue Victor-Hugo (Paris)Avenue Victor-Hugo is an avenue in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. It begins at place Charles de Gaulle and ends at place Tattegrain . It is one of the twelve avenues beginning at the Étoile, and the second longest of the twelve, after the avenue des Champs-Élysées...
: avenue d'EylauBattle of EylauThe Battle of Eylau or Battle of Preussisch-Eylau, 7 and 8 February 1807, was a bloody and inconclusive battle between Napoléon's Grande Armée and a Russian Empire army under Levin August, Count von Bennigsen near the town of Preußisch Eylau in East Prussia. Late in the battle, the Russians...
during the Second Empire and avenue de Saint-CloudSaint-CloudSaint-Cloud is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris.Like other communes of the Hauts-de-Seine such as Marnes-la-Coquette, Neuilly-sur-Seine or Vaucresson, Saint-Cloud is one of the wealthiest cities in France, ranked 22nd out of the 36500 in...
before - Avenue FochAvenue FochAvenue Foch is a street in Paris, France, named after Ferdinand Foch in 1929. It was previously named Avenue du Bois de Boulogne. It is one of the most prestigious streets in Paris, and one of the most expensive addresses in the world, home to many grand palaces, including ones belonging to the...
: avenue du Bois (de Boulogne)Bois de BoulogneThe Bois de Boulogne is a park located along the western edge of the 16th arrondissement of Paris, near the suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt and Neuilly-sur-Seine...
during the Third RepublicFrench Third RepublicThe French Third Republic was the republican government of France from 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed due to the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, to 1940, when France was overrun by Nazi Germany during World War II, resulting in the German and Italian occupations of France...
and avenue de l'ImpératriceEugénie de MontijoDoña María Eugenia Ignacia Augustina de Palafox-Portocarrero de Guzmán y Kirkpatrick, 16th Countess of Teba and 15th Marquise of Ardales; 5 May 1826 – 11 July 1920), known as Eugénie de Montijo , was the last Empress consort of the French from 1853 to 1871 as the wife of Napoleon III, Emperor of...
during the Second Empire - Avenue de la Grande-Armée during the Second Empire and avenue de NeuillyNeuilly-sur-SeineNeuilly-sur-Seine is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.Although Neuilly is technically a suburb of Paris, it is immediately adjacent to the city and directly extends it. The area is composed of mostly wealthy, select residential...
before - Avenue Carnot: avenue d'Essling during the Second Empire
- Avenue Mac-Mahon: avenue du Prince-JérômeJérôme BonaparteJérôme-Napoléon Bonaparte, French Prince, King of Westphalia, 1st Prince of Montfort was the youngest brother of Napoleon, who made him king of Westphalia...
during the Second Empire
The place is symmetrical and thus has six axes:
- Axis avenue Mac-MahonPatrice MacMahon, duc de MagentaMarie Edme Patrice Maurice de Mac-Mahon, 1st Duke of Magenta was a French general and politician with the distinction Marshal of France. He served as Chief of State of France from 1873 to 1875 and as the first president of the Third Republic, from 1875 to 1879.-Early life:Born in Sully , in the...
and avenue d'IénaBattle of Jena-AuerstedtThe twin battles of Jena and Auerstedt were fought on 14 October 1806 on the plateau west of the river Saale in today's Germany, between the forces of Napoleon I of France and Frederick William III of Prussia... - Axis avenue de WagramBattle of WagramThe Battle of Wagram was the decisive military engagement of the War of the Fifth Coalition. It took place on the Marchfeld plain, on the north bank of the Danube. An important site of the battle was the village of Deutsch-Wagram, 10 kilometres northeast of Vienna, which would give its name to the...
and avenue KléberJean Baptiste KléberJean Baptiste Kléber was a French general during the French Revolutionary Wars. His military career started in Habsburg service, but his plebeian ancestry hindered his opportunities... - Axis avenue Hoche and avenue Victor-HugoVictor HugoVictor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
- Axis avenue de FriedlandBattle of FriedlandThe Battle of Friedland saw Napoleon I's French army decisively defeat Count von Bennigsen's Russian army about twenty-seven miles southeast of Königsberg...
and avenue FochFerdinand FochFerdinand Foch , GCB, OM, DSO was a French soldier, war hero, military theorist, and writer credited with possessing "the most original and subtle mind in the French army" in the early 20th century. He served as general in the French army during World War I and was made Marshal of France in its... - Axis avenue des Champs-Élysées and avenue de la Grande-ArméeLa Grande ArméeThe Grande Armée first entered the annals of history when, in 1805, Napoleon I renamed the army that he had assembled on the French coast of the English Channel for the proposed invasion of Britain...
: which is the axe historiqueAxe historiqueThe Axe historique is a line of monuments, buildings and thoroughfares that extends from the centre of Paris, France, to the west. It is also known as the "Voie Triomphale" ....
of Paris - Axis avenue MarceauFrançois Séverin Marceau-DesgraviersFrançois Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers was a French general of the Revolutionary Wars.-Early life:Desgraviers was born at Chartres, Eure-et-Loir. His father served as a legal officer, and Marceau received an education for a legal career, but at the age of sixteen he enlisted in the regiment of...
and avenue CarnotLazare CarnotLazare Nicolas Marguerite, Comte Carnot , the Organizer of Victory in the French Revolutionary Wars, was a French politician, engineer, and mathematician.-Education and early life:...
The Place de l'Étoile (as well as the Arc de Triomphe
Arc de Triomphe
-The design:The astylar design is by Jean Chalgrin , in the Neoclassical version of ancient Roman architecture . Major academic sculptors of France are represented in the sculpture of the Arc de Triomphe: Jean-Pierre Cortot; François Rude; Antoine Étex; James Pradier and Philippe Joseph Henri Lemaire...
) is split between the VIIIe
VIIIe arrondissement
The 8th arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France.Situated on the right bank of the River Seine and centred on the Opéra, the 8th is, together with the 1st and 9th arrondissements and 16th arrondissement and 17th arrondissement, one of Paris's main...
, XVIe
XVIe arrondissement
The 16th arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements of Paris, the capital city of France...
and the XVIIe
XVIIe arrondissement
The 17th arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France.-Geography:The land area of this arrondissement is 5.669 km2 The 17th arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements (administrative districts) of the capital city of...
arrondissements of Paris
Arrondissements of Paris
The city of Paris is divided into twenty arrondissements municipaux administrative districts, more simply referred to as arrondissements . These are not to be confused with departmental arrondissements, which subdivide the 101 French départements...
:
- VIIIe: area between avenue de Wagram and avenue Marceau
- XVIe: area between avenue Marceau and avenue de la Grande-Armée
- XVIIe: area between avenue de la Grande Armée and avenue de Wagram
The square is surrounded by two streets forming a circle around it: the rue de Presbourg
Rue de Presbourg
Rue de Presbourg is a street in the 8th and 16th arrondissements of Paris. Since 1864 it has been named after Napoleon's 1805 diplomatic success at the Peace of Pressburg and, with the Rue de Tilsitt , it forms a circle around Place Charles-de-Gaulle....
and the rue de Tilsitt
Rue de Tilsitt
Rue de Tilsitt is a street in the 8th and 17th arrondissements of Paris. It is one of two streets which form a circle around the Place de l’Étoile - the other is the Rue de Presbourg...
which have been so named since 1864, after diplomatic successes of Napoleon I
Napoleon I
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
which led to the signing of the Treaty of Presbourg
Peace of Pressburg
The Peace of Pressburg refers to four peace treaties concluded in Pressburg . The fourth Peace of Pressburg of 1805 during the Napoleonic Wars is the best-known.-First:...
in 1805 and the Treaties of Tilsit
Treaties of Tilsit
The Treaties of Tilsit were two agreements signed by Napoleon I of France in the town of Tilsit in July, 1807 in the aftermath of his victory at Friedland. The first was signed on 7 July, between Tsar Alexander I of Russia and Napoleon I of France, when they met on a raft in the middle of the Neman...
in 1807.
Literature
La Place de l'étoile is the title of a novel by French writer Patrick ModianoPatrick Modiano
Patrick Modiano is a French novelist born 30 July 1945 in Boulogne-Billancourt of a father of Jewish Italian origins and a Belgian mother, Louisa Colpijn . He is a winner of the Grand prix du roman de l'Académie française in 1972, the Prix Goncourt in 1978 for his novel Rue des boutiques obscures...
.
Transportation
(MétroParis Métro
The Paris Métro or Métropolitain is the rapid transit metro system in Paris, France. It has become a symbol of the city, noted for its density within the city limits and its uniform architecture influenced by Art Nouveau. The network's sixteen lines are mostly underground and run to 214 km ...
and RER
RER
The RER is a rapid transit system in France serving Paris and its suburbs. The RER is an integration of a modern city-centre underground rail and a pre-existing set of commuter rail lines. It has several connections with the Paris Métro within the city of Paris. Within the city, the RER...
)
Motor Insurance Myth
There is an urban myth that motor insurance companies will not cover driving around the Étoile, which is not strictly true. Insurance companies generally cover motor accidents only on the Étoile under a knock-for-knock agreementKnock-for-Knock Agreement
A knock-for-knock agreement is an agreement between two insurance companies whereby, when both companies' policy-holders incur losses in the same insured event , each insurer pays the losses sustained by its own policy-holder regardless of who was responsible.-Rationale:The rationale is economic...
, whereby each insurance company will pay for losses by its own policyholder, provided that the other party's insurance company agrees to do the same for the other policyholder.
External links
- Satellite image from Google Maps
- http://www.2m40.com/
- http://www.2m40.com/2010/02/