House of Bourbon
The House of Bourbon is a European royal house of French origin, a branch of the Capetian dynasty. Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Spanish Bourbon dynasty held thrones in Spain, Naples and Parma. Spain and Luxembourg have monarchs of the House of Bourbon; the royal Bourbons originated in 1272, when the youngest son of King Louis IX married the heiress of the lordship of Bourbon. The house continued for three centuries as a cadet branch, serving as nobles under the Direct Capetian and Valois kings; the senior line of the House of Bourbon became extinct in the male line in 1527 with the death of Charles III, Duke of Bourbon. This made the junior Bourbon-Vendome branch the genealogically senior branch of the House of Bourbon. In 1589, at the death of Henry III of France, the House of Valois became extinct in the male line. Under the Salic law, the Head of the House of Bourbon, as the senior representative of the senior-surviving branch of the Capetian dynasty, became King of France as Henry IV.
Bourbon monarchs united to France the small kingdom of Navarre, which Henry's father had acquired by marriage in 1555, ruling both until the 1792 overthrow of the monarchy during the French Revolution. Restored in 1814 and definitively in 1815 after the fall of the First French Empire, the senior line of the Bourbons was overthrown in the July Revolution of 1830. A cadet Bourbon branch, the House of Orléans ruled for 18 years, until it too was overthrown; the Princes de Condé were a cadet branch of the Bourbons descended from an uncle of Henry IV, the Princes de Conti were a cadet line of the Condé branch. Both houses were prominent French noble families well known for their participation in French affairs during exile in the French Revolution, until their respective extinctions in 1830 and 1814. In 1700, at the death of Charles II of Spain, the Spanish Habsburgs became extinct in the male line. Under the will of the childless Charles II, the second grandson of Louis XIV of France was named as his successor, to preclude the union of the thrones of France and Spain.
The prince Duke of Anjou, became Philip V of Spain. Permanent separation of the French and Spanish thrones was secured when France and Spain ratified Philip's renunciation, for himself and his descendants, of the French throne in the Treaty of Utrecht in 1714, similar arrangements kept the Spanish throne separate from those of the Two Sicilies and Parma; the Spanish House of Bourbon has been overthrown and restored several times, reigning 1700–1808, 1813–1868, 1875–1931, since 1975. Bourbons ruled in Naples from 1734 to 1806 and in Sicily from 1734 to 1816, in a unified Kingdom of the Two Sicilies from 1816 to 1860, they ruled in Parma from 1731 to 1735, 1748–1802 and 1847–1859. Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg married a cadet of the Parmese line and thus her successors, who have ruled Luxembourg since her abdication in 1964, have been members of the House of Bourbon. Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil, regent for her father, Pedro II of the Empire of Brazil, married a cadet of the Orléans line and thus their descendants, known as the Orléans-Braganza, were in the line of succession to the Brazilian throne and expected to ascend its throne had the monarchy not been abolished by a coup in 1889.
All legitimate, living members of the House of Bourbon, including its cadet branches, are direct agnatic descendants of Henry IV through his son Louis XIII of France. The pre-Capetian House of Bourbon was a noble family, dating at least from the beginning of the 13th century, when the estate of Bourbon was ruled by the Sire de Bourbon, a vassal of the King of France; the term House of Bourbon is sometimes used to refer to this first house and the House of Bourbon-Dampierre, the second family to rule the seigneury. In 1272, Count of Clermont and youngest son of King Louis IX of France, married Beatrix of Bourbon, heiress to the lordship of Bourbon and member of the House of Bourbon-Dampierre, their son Louis was made Duke of Bourbon in 1327. His descendant, the Constable of France Charles de Bourbon, was the last of the senior Bourbon line when he died in 1527; because he chose to fight under the banner of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and lived in exile from France, his title was discontinued after his death.
The remaining line of Bourbons henceforth descended from James I, Count of La Marche, the younger son of Louis I, Duke of Bourbon. With the death of his grandson James II, Count of La Marche in 1438, the senior line of the Count of La Marche became extinct. All future Bourbons would descend from James II's younger brother, who became the Count of Vendôme through his mother's inheritance. In 1525, at the death of Charles IV, Duke of Alençon, all of the princes of the blood royal were Bourbons. In 1514, Count of Vendôme had his title raised to Duke of Vendôme, his son Antoine became King of Navarre, on the northern side of the Pyrenees, by marriage in 1555. Two of Antoine's younger brothers were Cardinal Archbishop Charles de Bourbon and the French and Huguenot general Louis de Bourbon, 1st Prince of Condé. Louis' male-line descendants, the Princes de Condé, survived until 1830. In 1589, the House of Valois died out and Antoine's son Henry III of Navarre became Henry IV of France. Family from India's claim to be a branch and their claim to The "Throne of France" Bourbons of India, claim to be descendants of Charles III, Duke of Bourbon, of the first House of Bourbon-Montpensier.
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Adolphe Alphand
Jean-Charles Adolphe Alphand, born in 1817 and died in 1891, interred at Père Lachaise Cemetery, was a French engineer of the Corps of Bridges and Roads. Born in Grenoble, Alphand entered the École polytechnique in 1835 and continued his engineering studies at the prestigious École des ponts et chaussées in 1837, he began his career as an engineer in the coastal city of Bordeaux, working on improvements to the port and other infrastructure. It was in Bordeaux that Alphand met and earned the trust of Baron Haussmann, the Prefect of the Gironde province. In 1854, the year after Haussmann was promoted to the powerful role of Prefect of the Seine by Napoleon III, Haussmann hired Alphand as chief engineer of the Bois de Boulogne, a role which soon expanded into director of the newly formed parks department, into an all-around director of public works. Under Napoléon III, Alphand participated in the renovation of Paris directed by Baron Haussmann between 1852 and 1870, in the company of another engineer Eugène Belgrand and the landscape architect Jean-Pierre Barillet-Deschamps.
He created walks and gardens designed to embellish and sanitize Paris. He remodeled the Bois de Vincennes and Bois de Boulogne. Adolphe Alphand's notable accomplishments include: The Square du Temple The Paris Observatory Avenue The gardens of Champs-Élysées Parc Monceau Boulevard Richard-Lenoir Bois de Vincennes Parc Montsouris Bois de Boulogne Parc des Buttes-Chaumont Square des Batignolles Jardin des Plantes du MansAfter the retirement of Baron Haussmann, his successor, Léon Say, entrusted to Alphand the position of Director of Public Works of Paris. Under this title, Alphand continued Haussmann's works. Alphand became the Director of Water Works after the death of Eugène Belgrand in 1878. In particular, Alphand directed the construction of: The fortifications of Paris The Trocadéro Gardens, carried out for the Paris Universal Exposition of 1878 Preparation for the Universal Exposition of 1889 The promenade and the gardens of Paris's Hôtel de Ville Alphand, Adolphe. Les Promenades de Paris.
Texte. Rothschild. Alphand, Adolphe. Les Promenades de Paris. Planches. Paris: Rothschild. Alphand, Adolphe. Les Promenades de Paris. New York, New York: Princeton Architectural Press. ISBN 0-910413-06-1. Reprint. Published Paris: Rothschild, 1867-1873. Fierro, Alfred. "Buttes-Chaumont". Life and History of the 19th Arrondissement. Paris: Editions Hervas. Pp. 80–100. ISBN 2-903118-29-9. Downie, David. "Montsouris and Buttes-Chaumont: the art of the faux". Paris, Paris: Journey into the City of Light. Fort Bragg: Transatlantic Press. Pp. 34–41. ISBN 0-9769251-0-9. Hopkins, Richard S.. Planning the Greenspaces of Nineteenth-Century Paris. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 0807159867, 9780807159866. Jordan, David P.. Transforming Paris: The Life and Labors of Baron Haussmann. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0029165318, 978-0029165317. Komara, Ann. "Concrete and the Engineered Picturesque the Parc des Buttes Chaumont. Journal of Architectural Education Vol. 58, No. 1, Construction and Context, pp. 5-12.
Komara, Ann. "Measure and Map: Alphand's Contours of Construction at the Parc des Buttes Chaumont, Paris 1867." Landscape Journal Vol. 28, No. 1, pp. 22-39 Picon, Antoine. "Nineteenth-Century Cartography and the Scientific Ideal: The Case of Paris." Osiris Vol 18, pp 135–149. University of Chicago Press
Le Marais
Le Marais is a historic district in Paris, France. Long the aristocratic district of Paris, it hosts many outstanding buildings of historic and architectural importance, it spreads across parts of the 4th arrondissements in Paris. Once shabby, the district has been rehabilitated and now sports trendy shopping and restaurants in streets such as Rue des Francs-Bourgeois and Rue des Rosiers. In 1240, the Order of the Temple built its fortified church just outside the walls of Paris, in the northern part of the Marais; the Temple turned this district into an attractive area, which became known as the Temple Quarter, many religious institutions were built nearby: the des Blancs-Manteaux, de Sainte-Croix-de-la-Bretonnerie and des Carmes-Billettes convents, as well as the church of Sainte-Catherine-du-Val-des-Écoliers. During the mid-13th century, Charles I of Anjou, King of Naples and Sicily, brother of King Louis IX of France built his residence near the current n°7 rue de Sévigné. In 1361 the King Charles V built a mansion known as the Hôtel Saint-Pol in which the Royal Court settled during his reign as well as his son's.
From that time to the 17th century and after the Royal Square was designed under King Henri IV of France in 1605, the Marais was the French nobility's favorite place of residence. French nobles built their urban mansions there—hôtels particuliers, in French—such as the Hôtel de Sens, the Hôtel de Sully, the Hôtel de Beauvais, the Hôtel Carnavalet, the Hôtel de Guénégaud and the Hôtel de Soubise, as well as many other hôtels particuliers, found all over the district. During the late 18th century, the district was no longer the most fashionable district for the nobility, yet it still kept its reputation of being an aristocratic area. By that time, only minor nobles and a few more powerful nobles, such as the Prince de Soubise, lived there; the Place des Vosges remained a place for nobles to meet. The district fell into despair after the French Revolution, was therefore abandoned by the nobility and would remain so until the present day. After the French Revolution, the district was no more the aristocratic district it once was during the 17th and 18th centuries.
Because of this, the district became a popular and active commercial area, hosting one of Paris' main Jewish communities. At the end of the 19th century and during the first half of the 20th, the district around the rue des Rosiers, referred to as the "Pletzl", welcomed many Eastern European Jews who reinforced the district's clothing specialization. During World War II the Jewish community was targeted by the Nazis; as of today the rue des Rosiers remains a major centre of the Paris Jewish community, which has made a comeback since the 1990s. Public notices announce Jewish events, bookshops specialize in Jewish books, numerous restaurants and other outlets sell kosher food; the synagogue on 10 rue Pavée is adjacent to the rue des Rosiers. It was designed in 1913 by Art Nouveau architect Hector Guimard, who designed several Paris Metro stations. Le Marais houses the Museum of Jewish Art and History, the largest French museum of Jewish art and history; the museum conveys the rich history and culture of Jews in Europe and North Africa from the Middle Ages to the 20th century.
In 1982, Palestinan terrorists murdered 6 people and injured 22 at a Jewish restaurant in Le Marais, Chez Jo Goldenberg, an attack which evidence ties to the Abu Nidal Organization. By the 1950s, the district had become a working-class area and most of its architectural masterpieces were in a bad state of repair. In 1964, General de Gaulle's Culture Minister Andre Malraux made the Marais the first secteur sauvegardé; these were meant to conserve places of special cultural significance. In the following decades the government and the Parisian municipality led an active restoration and Rehabilitation Policy; the main Hôtels particuliers have been restored and turned into museums: the Hôtel Salé hosts the Picasso Museum, the Hôtel Carnavalet hosts the Paris Historical Museum, the Hôtel Donon hosts the Cognacq-Jay Museum, the Hôtel de Saint-Aignan hosts the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme. The site of Beaubourg, the western part of Marais, was chosen for the Centre Georges Pompidou, France's national Museum of Modern Art and one of the world's most important cultural institutions.
The building was completed in 1977 with revolutionary architecture by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers. The Marais is now one of Paris' main localities for art galleries. Following its rehabilitation, the Marais has become a fashionable district, home to many trendy restaurants, fashion houses, hip galleries; the Marais is known for the Chinese community it hosts. The community began to appear during World War I. At that time, France needed workers to replace its at-war soldiers and China decided to send a few thousand of its citizens on the condition that they would not take part in the war. After the 1918 victory, some of them decided to stay in Paris living around the current rue au Maire. Today, most work in leather-related products; the Marais' Chinese community has settled in the north of the district in the surrounding of Place de la République. Next to it, on the Rue du Temple, is the Chinese Church of Paris. Other features of the neighbourhood include the Musée Picasso, the house of Nicolas Flamel, the Musée Cognacq-Jay, the Musée Carnavalet.
Le Marais became a centre of LGBT culture, beginning in the 1980s. As of today, 40% of the LGBT businesses in Paris are in Le Marais. Florence Tamagne, author of Paris:'Resting on its Laurels'?, wrote that Le
Château de Vincennes
The Château de Vincennes is a massive 14th and 17th century French royal fortress in the town of Vincennes, to the east of Paris, now a suburb of the metropolis. Like other more famous châteaux, it had its origins in a hunting lodge, constructed for Louis VII about 1150 in the forest of Vincennes. In the 13th century, Philip Augustus and Louis IX erected a more substantial manor: Louis IX is reputed to have departed from Vincennes on the crusade from which he did not return. Vincennes was more than a grim fortress: Philippe III and Philippe IV were each married there and three 14th-century kings died at Vincennes: Louis X, Philippe V and Charles IV. To strengthen the site, the castle was enlarged replacing the earlier site in the 14th century. A donjon tower, 52 meters high, the tallest medieval fortified structure of Europe, was added by Philip VI of France, a work, started about 1337; the grand rectangular circuit of walls, was completed by the Valois about two generations later. The donjon served as a residence for the royal family, its buildings are known to have once held the library and personal study of Charles V. Henry V of England died in the donjon in 1422 following the siege of Meaux.
The relics of the Crown of Thorns were temporarily housed there while the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris was being readied to receive them. A fragment that remained behind received its own chapel at Vincennes built by Peter of Montereau, which survives. Henri IV was imprisoned at Vincennes in April 1574, during the Wars of Religion, Charles IX died here the following month. In the 17th century, the architect Louis Le Vau built for Louis XIV a pair of isolated ranges mirroring one another across a parterre to one side of the keep, suited for the Queen Mother and Cardinal Mazarin, but rebuilding was never pursued once Versailles occupied all attentions; some splendid apartments show the earliest phase of Louis XIV style, before the example of Vaux-le-Vicomte presented the Sun King with a worthy model. The unlucky builder of Vaux-le-Vicomte, the minister Nicolas Fouquet, found himself transferred to Vincennes, to much less comfortable lodgings. In 1691, another unwilling lodger was John Vanbrugh, soon to become a playwright and architect, who drew some of his Baroque "gothick" from his experience of Vincennes, it has been argued.
Abandoned in the 18th century, the château still served, first as the site of the Vincennes porcelain manufactory, the precursor to Sèvres as a state prison, which housed the marquis de Sade, Diderot and the famous confidence man, Jean Henri Latude, as well as a community of nuns of the English Benedictine Congregation from Cambrai. At the end of February 1791, a mob of more than a thousand workers from the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, encouraged by members of the Cordeliers Club and led by Antoine Joseph Santerre, marched out to the château, rumour had it, was being readied on the part of the Crown for political prisoners, with crowbars and pickaxes set about demolishing it, as the Bastille had been demolished; the work was interrupted by the marquis de Lafayette who took several ringleaders prisoners, to the jeers of the Parisian workers. It played no part during the remainder of the Revolution. From 1796, it served as an arsenal; the execution of the duc d'Enghien took place in the moat of the château on 21 March 1804.
General Daumesnil who lost a leg, replaced by a wooden prosthesis, at the battle of Wagram, was assigned to the defence of the château de Vincennes in 1812. Vincennes was an arsenal containing 52 000 new rifles, more than 100 field guns and many tons of powder, canonballs... A tempting prize for the Sixth Coalition marching on Paris in 1814 in the aftermath of the Battle of the Nations. However, Daumesnil faced down the allies and replied with the famous words "I shall surrender Vincennes when I get my leg back". With only 300 men under his command, he resisted to the Coalition until king Louis XVIII ordered to leave the fortress; the park was recreated in the English landscape style in the 19th century. In 1860, Napoleon III, having employed Viollet-le-Duc to restore the keep and the chapel, gave the Bois de Vincennes to Paris as a public park. Vincennes served as the military headquarters of the Chief of General Staff, General Maurice Gamelin during the unsuccessful defence of France against the invading German army in 1940.
It is now the main base of France's Defence Historical Service, which maintains a museum in the donjon. On 20 August 1944, during the battle for the liberation of Paris, 26 policemen and members of the Resistance arrested by soldiers of the Waffen-SS were executed in the eastern moat of the fortress, their bodies thrown in a common grave. Only traces remain of the substantial remains date from the 14th century; the castle forms a rectangle. It has six towers and three gates, each 13 meters high, is surrounded by a deep stone lined moat; the keep, 52m high, its enceinte occupy the western side of the fortress and are separated from the rest of the castle by the moat. The keep; the towers of the grande enceinte now stand only to the height of the walls, having been demolished in the 1800s, save the Tour du Village on the north side of the enclosure. The south end consists of two wings facing each other, the Pavillon du Roi and the Pavillon de la Reine, built by Louis Le Vau. Fort Neuf de Vincennes, built to the east
Cedrela
Cedrela is a genus of several species in the mahogany family, Meliaceae. They are evergreen or dry-season deciduous trees with pinnate leaves, native to the tropical and subtropical New World, from southern Mexico south to northern Argentina; these species are accepted: Cedrela angustifolia Sessé & Moc. ex C. DC. – Argentina, Brazil, Peru Cedrela discolor S. F. Blake Cedrela dugesii S. Watson Cedrela fissilis Vell. – Costa Rica south to Argentina Cedrela kuelapensis T. D. Penn. & Daza Cedrela longipetiolulata Harms Cedrela molinensis T. D. Penn. & Reynel Cedrela monroensis T. D. Penn. Cedrela montana Moritz ex Turcz – Colombia & Ecuador Cedrela nebulosa T. D. Penn. & Daza Cedrela odorata L. – West Indies and from 24° N in Mexico south to 28° S in Argentina Cedrela oaxacensis C. DC. & Rose Cedrela saltensis M. A. Zapater & del Castillo Cedrela salvadorensis Standl. – Central America Cedrela tonduzii C. DC. – Central America Cedrela weberbaueri Harms Cedrela odorata is the most common species in the genus, widespread in seasonally dry tropical and subtropical forests.
C. angustifolia and C. montana occur at higher altitudes in moister conditions, are evergreen or only deciduous. Cedrela odorata is a important timber tree, producing a lightweight fragrant wood with good resistance to termites and other wood-boring insects, rot-resistant outdoors; the wood is sold under the name "Spanish-cedar", is the traditional wood used for making cigar boxes, as well as being used for general outdoor and construction work and veneer wood. It is used for the necks and linings of classical guitars, as well as bodies and necks of some electric guitars; some species are now CITES-listed, in particular Cedrela odorata. It is grown as an ornamental tree, has become naturalized in some areas in Africa, southeast Asia and Hawaii; the other species are less-used due to scarcity. CITES database entrance
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette was the last Queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an Archduchess of Austria and was the penultimate child and youngest daughter of Empress Maria Theresa and Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor, she became Dauphine of France in May 1770 at age 14 upon her marriage to Louis-Auguste, heir apparent to the French throne. On 10 May 1774, her husband ascended the throne as Louis XVI and she assumed the title Queen of France and Navarre, which she held until September 1791, when she became Queen of the French as the French Revolution proceeded, a title that she held until 21 September 1792. After eight years of marriage, Marie Antoinette gave birth to Marie Thérèse, the first of her four children. A growing percentage of the population came to dislike her, accusing her of being profligate and promiscuous and of harboring sympathies for France's enemies her native Austria; the Affair of the Diamond Necklace damaged her reputation further. During the Revolution, she became known as Madame Déficit because the country's financial crisis was blamed on her lavish spending and her opposition to the social and financial reforms of Turgot and Necker.
Several events were linked to Marie Antoinette during the Revolution after the government had placed the royal family under house arrest in the Tuileries Palace in October 1789. The June 1791 attempted flight to Varennes and her role in the War of the First Coalition had disastrous effects on French popular opinion. On 10 August 1792, the attack on the Tuileries forced the royal family to take refuge at the Assembly, they were imprisoned in the Temple Prison on 13 August. On 21 September 1792, the monarchy was abolished, her trial began on 14 October 1793, two days Marie Antoinette was convicted by the Revolutionary Tribunal of high treason and executed by guillotine on the Place de la Révolution. Maria Antonia was born on 2 November 1755 at the Hofburg Palace in Austria, she was the youngest daughter of Empress Maria Theresa, ruler of the Habsburg Empire, her husband Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor. Her godparents were Joseph I and Mariana Victoria and Queen of Portugal. Maria Antonia was born on All Souls Day, a day when Catholics mourned their dead, everything was black.
Therefore, it would make sense during her childhood to celebrate her birthday on the eve of it, All Saints Day, where everything was white and gold. Shortly after her birth she was placed under the care of the governess of the imperial children, Countess von Brandeis. Maria Antonia was raised together with her sister, Maria Carolina, three years older, with whom she had a lifelong close relationship. Maria Antonia had a difficult but loving relationship with her mother, who referred to her as "the little Madame Antoine". Maria Antonia spent her formative years between the Hofburg Palace and Schönbrunn, the imperial summer residence in Vienna, where on 13 October 1762, when she was seven, she met Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, two months her junior and a child prodigy. Despite the private tutoring she received, the results of her schooling were less than satisfactory. At the age of 10 she could not write in German or in any language used at court, such as French or Italian, conversations with her were stilted.
Under the teaching of Christoph Willibald Gluck, Maria Antonia developed into a good musician. She learned to play the harpsichord and the flute, she sang during the family's evening gatherings. She excelled at dancing, had "exquisite" poise, loved dolls. Following the Seven Years' War and the Diplomatic Revolution of 1756, Empress Maria Theresa decided to end hostilities with her longtime enemy, King Louis XV of France, their common desire to destroy the ambitions of Prussia and Great Britain and to secure a definitive peace between their respective countries led them to seal their alliance with a marriage: on 7 February 1770, Louis XV formally requested the hand of Maria Antonia for his eldest surviving grandson and heir, Louis-Auguste, Duke of Berry and Dauphin of France. Maria Antonia formally renounced her rights to Habsburg domains, on 19 April she was married by proxy to the Dauphin of France at the Augustinian Church in Vienna, with her brother Archduke Ferdinand standing in for the Dauphin.
On 14 May she met her husband at the edge of the forest of Compiègne. Upon her arrival in France, she adopted the French version of her name: Marie Antoinette. A further ceremonial wedding took place on 16 May 1770 in the Palace of Versailles and, after the festivities, the day ended with the ritual bedding; the couple's longtime failure to consummate the marriage plagued the reputations of both Louis-Auguste and Marie Antoinette for the next seven years. The initial reaction to the marriage between Marie Antoinette and Louis-Auguste was mixed. On the one hand, the Dauphine was beautiful and well-liked by the common people, her first official appearance in Paris on 8 June 1773 was a resounding success. On the other hand, those opposed to the alliance with Austria had a difficult relationship with Marie Antoinette, as did others who disliked her for more personal or petty reasons. Madame du Barry proved a troublesome foe to the new dauphine, she had considerable political influence over him. In 1770 she was instrumental in ousting Étienne François, duc de Choiseul, who had helped orchestrate the Franco-Austrian alliance and Marie Antoinette's marriage, in exiling his sister, the duchesse de Gramont, one of Marie Antoinette's ladies-in-waiting.
Marie Antoinette was persuaded by
Place de la Concorde
The Place de la Concorde is one of the major public squares in Paris, France Measuring 7.6 hectares in area, it is the largest square in the French capital. It is located at the eastern end of the Champs-Élysées, it was the site of many notable public executions during the French Revolution. The place was designed by Ange-Jacques Gabriel in 1755 as a moat-skirted octagon between the Champs-Elysées to the west and the Tuileries Garden to the east. Decorated with statues and fountains, the area was named the Place Louis XV to honor the king at that time; the square showcased an equestrian statue of the king, commissioned in 1748 by the city of Paris, sculpted by Edmé Bouchardon, completed by Jean-Baptiste Pigalle after the death of Bouchardon. At the north end, two magnificent identical stone buildings were constructed. Separated by the rue Royale, these structures remain among the best examples of Louis Quinze style architecture; the eastern building served as the French Naval Ministry. Shortly after its construction, the western building became the opulent home of the Duc d'Aumont.
It was purchased by the Comte de Crillon, whose family resided there until 1907. The famous luxury Hôtel de Crillon, which occupies the building, took its name from its previous owners. During the French Revolution in 1789 the statue of Louis XV of France was torn down and the area renamed the Place de la Révolution; the new revolutionary government erected a guillotine in the square, it was here that King Louis XVI was executed on 21 January 1793. Other important figures guillotined on the site in front of cheering crowds, were Queen Marie Antoinette, Princess Élisabeth of France, Charlotte Corday, Madame du Barry, Georges Danton, Camille Desmoulins, Antoine Lavoisier, Maximilien Robespierre, Louis de Saint-Just, Olympe de Gouges. In 1795, under the Directory, the square was renamed Place de la Concorde as a gesture of reconciliation after the turmoil of the French Revolution. After the Bourbon Restoration of 1814, the name was changed back to Place Louis XV, in 1826 the square was renamed Place Louis XVI.
After the July Revolution of 1830 the name was returned to Place de la Concorde and has remained that way since. To the west of the Place is the famous Champs-Élysées. To the east of the Place are the Tuileries Gardens; the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume and the Musée de l'Orangerie, both in the Tuileries Gardens, border the Place North of the Place: two identical stone buildings, separated by the Rue Royale. The eastern one houses the French Naval Ministry, the western one is the Hôtel de Crillon; the Rue Royale leads to the Église de la Madeleine. The Embassy of the United States is located in the corner of the Place at the intersection of Avenue Gabriel and Rue Boissy d'Anglas The northeastern corner of the Place is the western end of the Rue de Rivoli South of the Place: the River Seine, crossed by the Pont de la Concorde, built by Jean-Rodolphe Perronnet between 1787–1790 and widened in 1930-1932; the Palais Bourbon, home of the French National Assembly, is across the bridge, on the opposite bank of the river At each of the eight angles of the octagonal Place is a statue, initiated by architect Jacques-Ignace Hittorff, representing a French city: Brest and Rouen by Jean-Pierre Cortot Lyon and Marseille by Pierre Petitot Bordeaux and Nantes by Louis-Denis Caillouette Lille and Strasbourg by James Pradier.
After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, when Alsace-Lorraine was lost to Germany, the Strasbourg statue was covered in black mourning crepe on state occasions, was decorated with wreaths. The center of the Place is occupied by a giant Egyptian obelisk decorated with hieroglyphics exalting the reign of the pharaoh Ramesses II, it is one of two. The other one stayed in Egypt, too difficult and heavy to move to France with the technology at that time. In the 1990s, President François Mitterrand gave the second obelisk back to the Egyptians; the obelisk once marked the entrance to the Luxor Temple. The self-declared Khedive of Egypt, Muhammad Ali Pasha, offered the 3,300-year-old Luxor Obelisk to France in 1829, it arrived in Paris on 21 December 1833. Three years on 25 October 1836, King Louis Philippe had it placed in the center of Place de la Concorde; the obelisk, a yellow granite column, rises 23 metres high, including the base, weighs over 250 tonnes. Given the technical limitations of the day, transporting it was no easy feat — on the pedestal are drawn diagrams explaining the machinery, used for the transportation.
The obelisk is flanked on both sides by fountains constructed at the time of its erection on the Place. Missing its original cap, believed stolen in the 6th century BC, the government of France added a gold-leafed pyramid cap to the top of the obelisk in 1998; the two fountains in the Place de la Concorde have been the most famous of the fountains built during the time of Louis-Philippe, came to symbolize the fountains in Paris. They were designed by Jacques Ignace Hittorff, a student of the Neoclassical designer Charles Percier at the École des Beaux-Arts; the German-born Hittorff had served as the official Architect of Festivals and Ceremonies for the deposed King, had spent two years studying the architecture and fountains of Italy. Hittorff's two fountains were on the theme of rivers and seas, in part because of their proximity to the Ministry of Navy, to the Seine, their arrangement, on a north-south axis aligned with the Obelisk of Luxor and the Rue Royale, the form of the fountains themselv
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