Professional Documents
Culture Documents
79
By tonymac04
The Arc stands at the centre of what was called the Place de l’Etoile (Square of
the Star), so called because it was the confluence of a number of streets which
radiated in a star shape, as can be seen from the image taken from Google Earth
Palais Garnier
Le Grande Escalier
Bridges of Paris
Place Vendôme
From the Palais Garnier down the Rue de la Paix is another beautiful and historic Paris Place – the Place Vendôme.
The square, in the 1st arrondissement, was formerly the home of the illegitimate son of King Henri IV and his mistress
Gabrielle d'Estrées, the duc de Vendôme. It was first laid out as a monument to the glories of Louis XIV’s armies and was
intitally called the Place des Conquêtes, but this was changed to Place Louis le Grand on account of the victories of Louis’
armies proved rather ephemeral. A statue of Louis on horseback was put in the square where the column later erected by
Napoleon now stands. The development of the square proceeded from 1702 to about 1720, the architect Jules Hardouin-
Mansart being in charge of the design. Interestingly when the square was first begun as a square it was still some distance
outside of Paris proper.
Napoleon was obviously greatly pleased about the outcome of the Battle of Austerlitz as he erected La Colonne Vendôme to
celebrate the victory, the third monument to it in Paris after the Arc de Triomphe and La Madeleine! The column itself is
modelled after the famous Trajan’s Column in Rome. It is clad with spiralling bas-relief plates made of bronze, allegedly
melted down from the enemy cannons captured in the battle.
The communards tore down the column but it was re-erected in 1875 when France again became a republic.
Place Vendôme
J.M.W. Turner’s famous watercolour called “The Blue Rigi, Lake of Lucerne,
Sunrise” Zytglogge