Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, 16 August 2008

The ''Axe historique'' (; "historical axis") 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'' (; "triumphal way"). The Axe Historique began with the creation of the Champs-Élysées, designed in the 17th century to create a vista to the west, extending the central axis of the gardens to the royal

Palace of the Tuileries The Tuileries Palace (french: Palais des Tuileries, ) was a royal and imperial palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the River Seine, directly in front of the Louvre. It was the usual Parisian residence of most French monarchs, from ...

. Today the Tuileries Gardens (''Jardins des Tuileries'') remain, preserving their wide central pathway, though the palace was burned down during the Paris Commune, 1871. Between the Tuileries gardens and the Champs Élysées extension a jumble of buildings remained on the site of Place de la Concorde until early in the reign of Louis XV, for whom the square was at first named. Then the garden axis could open through a grand gateway into the new royal square. To the east, the Tuileries Palace faced an open square, the Place du Carrousel. There, by order of Napoleon, the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel was centered on the palace (and so on the same axial line that was developing beyond the palace). Long-standing plans to link the

Louvre Palace The Louvre Palace (french: link=no, Palais du Louvre, ), often referred to simply as the Louvre, is an iconic French palace located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in Paris, occupying a vast expanse of land between the Tuileries Ga ...

, as the disused palace was called, with the Tuileries, by sweeping away the intervening buildings, finally came to fruition in the early 19th century. Consequently, the older axis extending from the courtyard of the Louvre is slightly skewed to the rest of what has become the ''Axe historique,'' but the ''Arc du Carrousel'', at the fulcrum between the two, serves to disguise the discontinuity. To the west, the completion of the

Arc de Triomphe The Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile (, , ; ) is one of the most famous monuments in Paris, France, standing at the western end of the Champs-Élysées at the centre of Place Charles de Gaulle, formerly named Place de l'Étoile—the ''étoile'' ...

in 1836 on the

Place de l'Étoile Place Charles de Gaulle (), historically known as the Place de l'Étoile (), is a large road junction in Paris, France, the meeting point of twelve straight avenues (hence its historic name, which translates as "Square of the Star") including t ...

at the western end of the Champs-Élysées formed the far point of this line of perspective, which now starts at the equestrian statue of Louis XIV placed by I.M. Pei adjacent to his Louvre Pyramid in the

Cour Napoléon The expansion of the Louvre under Napoleon III in the 1850s, known at the time and until the 1980s as the Nouveau Louvre or Louvre de Napoléon III, was an iconic project of the Second French Empire and a centerpiece of its ambitious transforma ...

of the Louvre. The axis was extended again westwards along the

Avenue de la Grande Armée The Avenue de la Grande Armée is an avenue in Paris, France, marking the boundary between its 16th and 17th arrondissements. It was formerly named Avenue de la Porte Maillot as part of Route nationale 13, but was renamed to its present name in ...

, past the city boundary of Paris to

La Défense La Défense () is a major business district in France, located west of the city limits of Paris. It is part of the Paris metropolitan area in the Île-de-France region, located in the department of Hauts-de-Seine in the communes of Courbevoie, ...

. This was originally a large junction, named for a statue commemorating the defence of Paris in the Franco-Prussian War. In the 1950s, the area around La Défense was marked out to become a new business district, and high-rise office buildings were built along the avenue. The axis found itself extended yet again, with ambitious projects for the western extremity of the modern plaza. It was not until the 1980s, under president

François Mitterrand François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...

, that a project was initiated, with a modern 20th century version of the Arc de Triomphe. This is the work of Danish architect Johan Otto von Spreckelsen, La Grande Arche de la Fraternité (also known as simply La Grande Arche or L'Arche de la Défense), a monument to humanity and humanitarian ideals rather than militaristic victories. It was inaugurated in 1989. The network of railway lines and road tunnels beneath the elevated plaza of La Défense prevented the pillars supporting the arch from being exactly in line with the axis: it is slightly out of line, bending the axis should it be extended further to the west. From the roof of the Grande Arche, a second axis can be seen: the Tour Montparnasse stands exactly behind the Eiffel Tower. The ''Seine-Arche'' project is extending the historical axis to the West through the city of Nanterre, but with a slight curve.

Gallery

Champs-Elysées, vue de la Concorde à l'Etoile.jpg, The ''Axe historique'' looking west from the Place de la Concorde Axe-magistral.jpg, The ''Axe historique'' seen from the Tuileries Gardens. DefenseDusk.jpg, The Grande Arche seen from the Arc de Triomphe on the ''Axe historique''. VBRITTO-tuileries-vers-arc-2008.jpg, View from the Tuileries towards the Arc de Triomphe. Arc De Triomphe from La Defense.jpg, The Arc de Triomphe from La Défense 5 km (3 mi) away, showing how precisely the axis is aligned. Axe-historique.jpg, From the roof of the Grande Arche, past the skyscrapers of La Défense, down the ''Axe historique''.

External links

Entry
on greatbuildings.com {{Visitor attractions in Paris, state=collapsed Buildings and structures in Paris Champs-Élysées Environmental design Geography of Paris La Défense Landscape architecture Urban design