Paris Historical Axis

Visit the Historical Axis in Paris!

Official website of Paris’ Tourist Office Board:

http://www.parisinfo.com

Tourist information site of Ile de France:

http://www.nouveau-paris-ile-de-france.fr/

Official website of the Arc de Triomphe:

http://arc-de-triomphe.monuments-nationaux.fr/

Official website of the Louvre Museum:

http://www.louvre.fr

Official website of La Défense district:

http://www.ladefense.fr

PDF Guide to History and Stories of La Défense (English Version):

http://www.ladefense.fr/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/guidehistoireuk.pdf

Official website of La Défense-Seine-Arche urban project:

http://www.ladefense-seine-arche.fr/

The Historical Axis in Paris

The Historical Axis, on the Right Bank of Paris, is probably one of the most prestigious perspectives in the world to have been designed and has inspired cities such as Buenos Aires, Washington DC and Canberra. The Historical Axis, also known in French as “Axe Historique”, “Voie Triomphale” or “Voie Royale” is orientated on a 26° angle, following the course of the Sun from its rising in the East to its setting in the West. Strangely, this angle of orientation is the same as that of Paris’ cathedral Notre-Dame, some 1,000 metres away from the Louvre Palace.More than just a series of monuments placed along the axis, it seems that a complex symbolism was at work in the mind of the successive urban planners.

The monuments aligned on the Historical Axis

The Historical Axis runs through some of Paris’ most celebrated monuments and squares:

❖ The Louvre: the Glass Pyramid and the equestrian statue of Louis XIV portrayed as ‘Alexander the Great’ in the Cour Napoléon.
❖ The Arc du Carrousel
❖ The gardens of the Tuileries
❖ The Place de la Concorde and the Egyptian obelisk
❖ The Champs-Elysées
❖ The Arc de Triomphe, standing in the centre of the wide Place de l’Etoile
❖ The Avenue de la Grande Armée leading to Porte Maillot
❖ The Avenue Charles de Gaulle in Neuilly-sur-Seine, leading to Pont de Neuilly
❖ The Esplanade de La Défense
❖ The Grande Arche de la Fraternité in La Défense
❖ The Seine-Arche project which endeavours to push the axis beyond La Défense, to the Seine.

L’Axe Historique de Paris

The Glass Pyramid of the Louvre

The Equestrian Statue of Louis XIV

The great perspective starts at the Louvre, immediately beyond the Church of St Germain l’Auxerrois. The crab-shaped Palace was the main residence of the kings of France until 1682, when Louis XIV, the ‘Sun King’, moved his court to Versailles. It currently houses one of the world’s most wonderful museums in a complex that is known as the “Grand Louvre”.

In 1546, King Francis I (François 1er) decided to dismantle the medieval fortres built by King Philip Augustus in the 12th Century in order to replace it with a larger and more fashionable structure based on the Renaissance.

The Palace of the Louvre

Napoleon and Napoleon III worked on achieving the ‘Grand Dessein’ (Great Design) which King Henry IV (16th C) had in mind, which was to join the Louvre to the Tuileries Palace by a series of wings. The new complex was then a formidable array of buildings, the largest in Europe, as the Tuileries Palace closed off the western end of the Louvre courtyard.

As for President François Mitterand, he left his mark with his pharaonic project of “Le Grand Louvre” that had to be completed for the bicentennial celebration of the French Revolution in 1989. The titanic project comprised of major renovation works (clearing the façade, transforming the interior, and the construction of underground hallways and a commercial centre), moving the Finance Ministry to a new modern building in Bercy, and the construction of a new landmark along the Historical Axis: the celebrated Glass Pyramid.

Some like it, others hate it... the imposing but controversial Glass Pyramid commissioned by Mitterand from Ieoh Ming Pei has played a major role in the “Grand Louvre” in serving as its principal entrance since 1988. With a height of 20 metres and its some 670 glass segments, the transparent monument echoes the Obelisk that rears up towards the sky in Place de la Concorde. It is not a surprise to find an Egyptian theme, dear to Mitterrand, in Paris. Besides, Ieoh Ming Pei may have come across similar design projects that had been proposed without success in the past. In fact a baroque pyramid was indeed put forward to be built in the Cour Napoléon for the centennial celebrations of the Revolution.

The symbolism behind the Egyptian pyramid lies in the cult of the Supreme Being (“Etre Suprême”) which can be seen in the frontispiece of the 1789 Declaration of Human Rights. This Masonic symbol (the ‘Eye in the Pyramid’) was also used in America. But even before the French Revolution, a pyramid to the glory of the Sun King was also proposed for the Cour Carrée by a French architect.

Further to the West lies another glass structure, the Inverted Pyramid (“Pyramide Inversée”) only visible from the underground “Galerie Carrousel du Louvre”. It brings a well of light to the centre of the visitor complex.

In the Cour Napoléon, the Historical Axis does not run through the Glass Pyramid and the centreline of the courtyard. This led architect Pei to request that a particular statue of Louis XIV be placed adjacent to the Pyramid and in the direct path of the Historical axis.

The equestrian statue made in bronze portrays the Sun King as ‘Alexander the Great’. It is a later copy of the original statue executed by Bernini in 1668 in marble to be displayed at Versailles.

The Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel

The first monument to be aligned with the Historical Axis is the Arc du Carrousel, a triumphal arch built by Napoleon from 1807 to 1808 to celebrate the victory of the French imperial army in Austerlitz. The Arc du Carrousel was designed by Charles Percier and Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine on the model of the Arch of Septimius Severus and the Arch of Constantine in Rome. Note the resemblance of this triumphal arch to that of Nancy built some 60 years before.

Its bas-reliefs depict the Peace of Pressburg and the 1805 campaign led by Napoleon. Let’s remember that on completion, the view of the Great Perspective from Arc du Carrousel was blocked westwards by the Tuileries Palace.

The Palace of the Tuileries was a royal residence which was located between the Flore and Marsan Pavilions. It was commissioned by Catherine de Medici in 1564 on the site of a tile factory (hence the French name ‘Tuilerie’ deriving from ‘tuile’ – tile). The young Louis XIV lived there, as did Napoleon Bonaparte who made the Tuileries the centre of his imperial power. It was severely damaged by a fire during the upheaval of the Paris Commune in 1871. In 1883, the Government resolutely cleared away the ruins, despite the protests of Baron Haussmann and other influent French personalities.

Prior to its destruction, the Palace of the Tuileries played a full role along the Historical Axis as it was its real starting point. Its absence moved the visual start of the axis back to the Cour Napoléon to reveal a deviation of the axis to visitors. For garden architect Le Nôtre planned the axis to run from the Tuileries and its gardens in the 17th century.

The Tuileries Palace

There is serious debate that the Tuileries will be rebuilt one day. The National Committee for the Reconstruction of the Tuileries is working to that end and the project has a serious chance of succeeding. Many reasons have been put forward to convince the authorities (and the French!) of the benefit of such an operation. First it would return the royal complex of the Louvre to its former glory, that of “Le Grand Dessein” (the “Great Design”) and allow more exhibition facilities for the rich collections of the museum. Secondly, since all the furniture and paintings which used to decorate the inside of the Palace still exist today (they were stored in a safe place during the Franco-Prussian War before the 1871 fire), it would be quite simple to return them to their initial location. If you wish to support the reconstruction of the Tuileries, find out more at: www.tuileries.fr.

From the Place du Carrousel, the Tuileries Gardens offer an unbroken vista along the centreline of the Historical Axis towards the Place de la Concorde, the Arc de Triomphe and the Grande Arche.

The impeccably formal gardens of the Tuileries were designed and laid out from 1640 by André Le Nôtre along the Historical Axis that he started to trace. The garden is bordered along all its length, by Rue de Rivoli to the North and River Seine to the South. It remains the largest and oldest public garden in Paris today.

The boundary of the gardens and the Place de la Concorde is marked by two terraces on each side, on which two famous museums stand: the Musée de l’Orangerie (overlooking the Seine) and the Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume (bordering Rue de Rivoli). The former houses the famous Nymphéas from Monet, a series of water-lily paintings.The view from the top of the terrace overlooking the Place de la Concorde, the Champs-Elysées, the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower in the distance is magnificent.

The Tuileries Gardens

The majestic Place de la Concorde is another impressive site for its connection with French history. On many occasions, the square has been the place chosen for happy or sad national gatherings.

The square takes the form of an octagon measuring 359 by 212 metres, bordered by the River Seine to the South and classical-style buildings to the North. The Egyptian obelisk stands at the centre of the square, flanked by two massive fountains.

In 1753 it was decided that the site should be designed as a square. This decision was taken during the reign of King Louis XV, when many French cities had started or completed prestigious squares, commonly called “Place Royale” to the glory of the King: Montpellier, Nantes, Metz, Dijon or Bordeaux. In the independent Duchy of Lorraine, the King’s father-in-law, Stanislas Leszczyński, commissioned the beautiful Place Stanislas in Nancy, which was well underway by 1753.

The Place de la Concorde

Gabriel, the King’s architect, was given the task of creating a magnificent square along the Historical Axis which would stage an equestrian statue of Louis XV in the centre.

Originally called ‘Place Louis XV’, the square was renamed in 1792 as ‘Place de la Révolution’ when it became the stage for the horrendous public executions by the guillotine. During the Reign of Terror, the King, the Queen Marie-Antoinette, and more than 1,100 victims were beheaded in less than two and a half years. Following those dreadful events of the Reign of Terror, the Directorate changed the name of the square to one of reconciliation and hope: Place de la Concorde.

In the 1830s, architect Jacques Ignace Hittorff transformed the square by adding statues and fountains that can be seen today.

At each corner of the octagon formed by the Place, he erected eight stone monuments, representing the French cities of:

❖ Lille,
❖ Strasbourg,
❖ Lyon,
❖ Marseille,
❖ Bordeaux,
❖ Nantes,
❖ Brest and
❖ Rouen.

Hittorff also added two monumental fountains inspired by those in Piazza Navona in Rome.

The Luxor Obelisk

The Obelisk, ideally placed in the middle of the Place de la Concorde, is part of the strange geometrical layouts and alignments along the Historical Axis, evoking the symbols of Ancient Egypt.

To understand the reasoning that led the French to develop such admiration for Egyptology, one needs to go back to Napoleon Bonaparte’s campaign to Egypt in 1798. For it was the French Emperor-to-be who attempted to conquer Egypt in order to counteract the English influence in the Middle-East and India. The General was not only coming to Egypt with soldiers: as a newly elected member of the French Academy of Sciences, he took with him 167 savants to Egypt in 1798, and founded the first modern scientific institute in Egypt: the Institut d’Egypte in Cairo.

King Charles X (1757-1836) showed an interest in Ancient Egypt and commissioned Jean-François Champollion (who deciphered the ancient hieroglyphs) to arrange for an obelisk to be brought back to Paris.

In 1831, Mohammed-Ali, Viceroy of Egypt offered France one of the two obelisks which guarded the entrance of the temple of Luxor in Upper Egypt. Both dated back to the time of Pharaoh Ramses II, arguably the most powerful king of Ancient Egypt.

A special ship, the Luxor, was designed to carry the obelisk to France from Egypt. On the 25th October 1836, 200,000 people gathered at the square to witness the lifting operation to raise the obelisk onto its pedestal.

3500 years old, the obelisk is the oldest monument standing in Paris. It is 23 metres tall and weighs 220 tons. The French capital, however, was not the first European city to display an obelisk. The one standing in Saint Peter’s Square in Rome was transferred by the Romans to decorate the circus. Other specimens erected after Paris can be found in London (the obelisk of Tuthmoses III on the Victoria Embankment, better known as ‘Cleopatra’s Needle’) and in New York (a twin obelisk to the one in London, erected in Central Park).

When the obelisk was carried to France in the 19th Century, its original cap had long disappeared (it was believed to have been stolen in the 6th century BC). In May 1998, the French authorities decided to refurbish the obelisk by putting a copy of the missing gold-leafed pyramid cap on top, thanks to the initiative of Egyptologist Christiane Desroches Noblecourt. This pyramid cap is called a pyramidion and is supposed to reflect the rays of the sun.

In 1988, this great Egyptian landmark was joined by another pharaoh-related structure along the Historical Axis: the modern Glass Pyramid in the Louvre, evoking the Great Pyramid of Giza.

The perpendicular perspective to the Historical Axis at Place de la Concorde

The Place de la Concorde set the stage for another North-South perspective, much shorter, perpendicular to the Historical Axis. It features, on the South side, beyond the bridge “Pont de la Concorde” across the Seine, the Palais Bourbon building and on the North side, at the end of Rue Royale, the Madeleine Church. Both monuments match each other across the Place de la Concorde with their grand Classical-style porticos, evoking the design of Roman temples.

The 19th century Madeleine Church strangely resembles a Roman temple and shares some similarities with the ancient ‘Maison Carrée’ in Nîmes.

The Palais Bourbon housed the National Assembly and its pedimented, colonnaded front was inspired by that of the Madeleine Church at the far end of the short perspective crossing the Place de la Concorde.

The wide processional avenue had been in Le Nôtre’s mind when the urban architect designed the Tuileries Gardens back in the 17th century. But it was the Duke of Antin who pursued the Grand Cours or ‘Perspective’ up to the mound of Chaillot (Butte de Chaillot) where the Arc de Triomphe now stands majestically. In the 18th century, the promenade was bordered with trees formally planted in a straight line and English gardens were laid out on each side, from the Place de la Concorde up to the Rond Point des Champs-Elysées.

As a famous landmark along the Historical Axis, the Champs-Elysées plays a major role in opening the outlook from the Louvre towards the West, towards the setting sun.

Its current name was adopted in 1709 and derived from the Elysian Fields, a place of final resting for the souls of the heroic and the virtuous in Greek mythology. But the thoroughfare on the axis is nowadays known as “la plus belle avenue du monde” (the most beautiful avenue in the world). The long avenue of nearly two kilometres is 70m wide, therefore not the widest in Paris (Avenue Foch is 120m wide with its central gardens).

“Les Champs” (as the Parisians called the avenue) is a glamorous thoroughfare cutting through Paris’ most exclusive district where tourists, strollers and businessmen mingle.

The Champs-Elysées

The lower section of the avenue, from the Place de la Concorde to the Rond Point des Champs-Elysées, is bordered on each side by the English gardens designed by the architect Hittorff (1838). Consisting of lawns, beautiful conker trees and shrubberies, they blend harmoniously with the pleasure pavilions.

The gardens (“Jardins des Champs-Elysées) are divided in rectangular areas called “Carrés” (squares). On the north side of the avenue are the carré des Ambassadeurs (close to the Place de la Concorde, including the Espace Cardin), the carré de l’Elysée (in front of the beautiful railings of the Palais de l’Elysée, the residence of the French President), and the carré Marigny (including the Marigny Theatre, the Laurent restaurant and the open-air marionette theatre for children).

On the south side are the carré du Géorama (including the famous Ledoyen restaurant) and the grand carré du Battoir (which is now bordered by the Petit Palais and the Grand Palais).

At the end of the Avenue des Champs-Elysées stands the mighty Arc de Triomphe, at the centre of a huge square in the shape of a ‘star’, accurately named the “Place de l’Etoile”. The huge arch was raised on the centreline of the Historical Axis of Paris, some 2.2km away from the Luxor Obelisk on the Place de la Concorde. This celebrated monument is the highest triumphal arch in Europe and stands 50 metres high.

The Neoclassical design of the Arc de Triomphe by Jean Chalgrin (1739–1811) was inspired by the triumphal Arch of Titus in Rome.

This famous Parisian landmark was commissioned from Jean Chalgrin by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1806 who once said to his soldiers “When you come back home, it will be through these triumphal arches”. But Napoleon never saw the monument completed. During the Napoleonic Wars, the building was stopped and only resumed in the reign of Louis-Philippe in the 1830s. It was inaugurated on the 29 July 1836, only three months before the raising of the Luxor obelisk – another symbolic landmark – in the Place de la Concorde down the hill. The remains of Napoleon travelled under the arch on the 15th December 1840 on its way to his final resting place in the chapel of the Hôtel des Invalides. On the 22nd May 1885, the corpse of Victor Hugo was allowed to rest the whole night under the arch before being buried at the Panthéon.

Arc de Triomphe

The Arc de Triomphe honours those who fought for France, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. The monument is certainly a symbolic monument with a strong historic connotation, and its alignment along the Historical Axis has been meticulously calculated to have the sun setting under the arches on some particular days. Twice a year, around the 10th May and the 1st August, the sun sets on the Historical Axis. The sun rises towards the East under the arch around the 7th February and the 4th November.

The four sides of the façade of the triumphal arch were decorated with impressive bas-reliefs, high-reliefs and friezes describing scenes from the Napoleonic Wars.

The Place de l’Etoile (since renamed “Place Charles de Gaulle”) is a symbolic place, with its configuration of 12 avenues radiating out from the Arc de Triomphe, each bearing the names of illustrious French military leaders: Foch, Marceau, Hoche or Kléber... it is often considered to be the most challenging roundabout for motorists to drive around. It was Baron Haussmann who approved the square’s design, the one that gave the square its particular star-like shape that we see today.

The panoramic view from the platform is amazing as it displays the twelve avenues departing from the Place de l’Etoile. The viewing platform also offers a fine view over the whole Historical Axis, from the Louvre to the Grande Arche in the CBD of La Défense. The best time of the day to appreciate the fine view is to go up at dusk on a sunny day when most of Paris will then be illuminated with the light of the setting sun.

To have a triumphal arch as a centre, from which 12 avenues form the radiating lines of a perfect star, set on a stunning historical axis on which various famous landmarks are aligned... what more could a national capital such as Paris ask for?

The answer is that with Parisian and French leaders, anything is possible! President Mitterrand wished to expand the great perspective beyond the Arc de Triomphe by erecting an even larger, taller and wider monument: the Grande Arche de la Défense.

Place Clémenceau today is a busy square where the Champs-Elysées is crossed by the Avenue de Marigny and the Avenue Winston Churchill. It is bordered by the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais. Above the entrance of the metro station “Clémenceau” stands the statue of General Charles de Gaulle. Across the square, on the Petit Palais’ side, lies the statue of George Clémenceau, commissioned by François Cogné in 1932. Further down the Avenue Winston Churchill, under shady trees, is another statue of an illustrious man: Winston Churchill.

From the Place Clémenceau, another ‘Grand Perspective’ opens towards the Hôtel des Invalides, passing through the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais, the Pont Alexandre III and the Esplanade des Invalides. Because it was completed during the 3rd French Republic, it was commonly known as the “Republican Axis”, echoing the older “Historical Axis” along the Champs-Elysées.

Place Clémenceau and the “Republican Axis”

The Gardens of the Champs-Elysées

The Rond Point des Champs-Elysées marks the border between the shady greenery of the Jardins des Champs-Elysées and the built-up area.

The Rond Point des Champs-Elysées and up towards the Arc de Triomphe

This upper part of the Avenue des Champs-Elysées follows the slope leading to the Arc de Triomphe and is bordered by buildings housing various top fashion boutiques, offices and cinemas, synonymous with Parisian glitz and glamour.

The Champs-Elysées attracts more than 1.2 million people a day at the weekend and it is no surprise that the prestigious street accounts for the highest rental and asking prices in Europe.

But most of all, the avenue provides the best location for major public events. The ‘Champs’ is to this day a major popular rallying point at times of national crisis, where huge gatherings, often spontaneous, have occurred on several occasions: the liberation of Paris on the 26th August 1944, the victory of the 1998 FIFA World cup by the French team or the New Year’s Eve popular gatherings where Champagne flows freely!

The French Republic uses the Champs-Elysées for big military parades on Bastille Day every 14th July. Another major event organised there is the final leg of the Tour de France (since 1975), and the lighting of the Champs-Elysées Christmas lights at the end of November.

The Place de l’Etoile or Place Charles de Gaulle

La Défense and the Grande Arche

The area of La Défense was once along the path which led to the castle of Saint-Germain en Laye, the country residence of the Kings of France, ideally located on the edge of a vast forest where they could hunt.

The idea to link the Louvre to Saint-Germain en Laye with a straight road over the little hill of Chantecoq emerged during the 15th century. The crossing of the River Seine at Neuilly was eased by the installation of a ferry, later replaced by a stone bridge when, on the 9th June 1605, the King’s coach fell into the water.

During the reign of Louis XIV, the axis became the obligatory route to reach the forest of Saint-Germain and was strictly aligned on the Historical Axis that architect Le Nôtre had worked on from the Tuileries.

However, it was urban architect Perronet who laid out the road in a direct line from the Champs-Elysées in 1766 to the top of the Chantecoq hill which is now the location of the Grande Arche. At that point, the architect shaped a round intersection similar to that on Place de l’Etoile and called it “Etoile de Chantecoq” or “Place de la Demi-Lune” (Half-moon square).

In 1863, Napoleon III erected a statue of Napoleon Bonaparte in the centre of the square and renamed it “Rond-Point de l’Empereur” (Emperor Roundabout).

In the 1870s, following the Franco-Prussian war, the local authorities commissioned Louis Ernest Barrias a make a new statue to replace that of Napoleon which was to pay homage to the defenders of Paris: “La Défense de Paris”. Since then, the new name given to the square was by extension applied to the whole area: La Défense.

In the 1950s, the authorities decided to create a significant business centre outside Paris in the residential and industrial district of La Défense. First the CNIT (National Centre for Industries and Technologies) was built with its unique shape of a triangular vault resting on three supports, and then a plethora of skyscrapers whose highest reach 200 metres.

In the midst of the skyscrapers bordering the Historical Axis in La Défense, a strong unifying symbol was needed, one on a grander scale.

Once elected President, François Mitterrand announced that La Défense needed a monumental structure which would represent the French state for centuries to come. The project was called “Tête Défense” (Head Défense) and was part of the so-called “Grands Travaux” (the ‘Great Works’), which involved the construction of a series of impressive architectural projects such as the Louvre Pyramid and the new Bastille opera house.

Like the Eiffel Tower at the time of its inauguration, the controversial Grande Arche was not welcomed by everyone. The President was often compared to Louis XIV, the Egyptian Pharaohs or even “dieu” (god) by the media for his zeal for building long-lasting and imposing landmarks throughout the French capital. But for Mitterrand, the timing was once again historic: for plans were being made for the huge celebrations of the bicentenary of the French Revolution to take place in 1989.

Amongst the hundreds of proposals for the Head Défense, that of Danish architect Johan-Otto Von Spreckelsen was chosen. It featured an open cube to look like a window open to the world with and gazing towards the future.

The architect described his project as: “a modern Arc de Triomphe, erected to the glory of the triumph of humanity; a symbol of hope that in the future people may meet freely”.

The gigantic and stunning monument is 110 metres tall by 112 metres deep and could hold the cathedral Notre-Dame in within its arch. The magisterial modern triumphal arch is undeniably a successful project blending perfectly with the surroundings thanks to its contemporary outline of white marble. Alongside the Eiffel Tower, it is probably Paris’ most imposing monument.

Viewed from the distance, one notices the deviation of the Grande Arche from the Historical Axis, for technical reasons (the network of railway lines and road tunnels underneath it made the project a complex one to complete). However, this allows one to better appreciate its remarkable cubic volume.

The Grande Arche is out of line by 6°33 in relation to the Historical Axis, which is exactly the same angle that the square courtyard of the Louvre is to the axis.

Not only does the Grande Arche occupy the place of honour on the western extremity of the Historical Axis, the urban planners also positioned it in such a way that it forms another perspective, with a perfect alignment towards the Eiffel Tower and the Tour Montparnasse, France’s highest buildings today.

Again, the link to the sun is significant, for it sets in the centre of the Grande Arche vault around the 24th June.

La Défense: a bit of history

The “Tête Défense” project

The “Grande Arche de la Fraternité” of La Défense

The three arches symbolically placed along the Historical Axis (Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, Arc de Triomphe and Grande Arche), all share a striking fact: their size approximately doubles at each stage!

The Historical Axis does not end at the Grande Arche and the journey continues beyond it, to the next meander of the Seine. When complete, this large-scale urban planning project will extend the axis by 3.5 km through a series of terraces, although with a slight curve.

The landscape will be redesigned in order to hide away the stretch of land which has, over the years, become a no-man’s land at the feet of the Grande Arche.

By 2015, the Historical Axis will run to 11.5 km, making a great walk from the Louvre to the Seine River in Nanterre. Maybe one day the Axis will reach the forest of Saint-Germain en Laye, Louis XIV the Sun King once wished! http://www.ladefense-seine-arche.fr

Some striking facts about the Historical Axis

The Historical Axis in the future

Champs-Elysées towards Place de la Concorde

The Défense skyline viewed from the Arc de Triomphe

The Historical Axis at La Défense and the Arc de Triomphe

As for today, the axis leads through the Cour Napoléon to strike the Sully Pavilion, thus deviating from the centre line of the courtyard, where the Glass Pyramid now stands.

From the second window of the Sully façade, the view along the great perspective all the way to the Grande Arche of La Défense is spectacular, and only a few Paris insiders will know of it!

The Historical Axis and the perpendicular perspective between La Madeleine and the Palais Bourbon.

Arc de Triomphe at night

Moreover, the distances between the major landmarks along the Historical Axis double each time: 1km from the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel to the Luxor Obelisk, 2km from the Obelisk to the Arc de Triomphe, and 4km from the Arc de Triomphe to the Grande Arche. Is this out of a coordinated deliberation or just a coincidence?

For some, it follows a careful plan transmitted from generation to generation. There could be a Freemasonry scheme behind it, maybe related to a strong Egyptology intrigue. For others, monuments were just added along the time and even though they do represent a symbolic meaning, there was no obscure mystery in their alignment.

The Louvre (back) and the Tuileries (front) in 1615

Photo of the Tuileries in the 1860s,

The circular square, 120 metres in diameter, is the centre – the star – from where 12 avenues radiate out in a remarkable geometric pattern. The number 12 is traditionally known as a sublime number (a number that has a perfect number of divisors, and the sum of its divisors is also a perfect number). The number is found in various symbolic places: the 12 apostles, the 12 signs of the zodiac, the 12 months in a year, the 12 hours in a day or night.