The
Axe historique ("historical axis") is a line of monuments, buildings and thoroughfares that extends from the centre of
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
,
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
, to the west. It is also known as the "Voie Triomphale" (triumphal way).
The Axe Historique began with the creation of the
Champs-ÉlyséesThe Avenue des Champs-Élysées is a prestigious avenue in Paris, France. With its cinemas, cafés, luxury specialty shops and clipped chestnut trees, the Avenue des Champs-Élysées is one of the most famous streets in the world, and with rents as high as USD1.5 million per 1,000 square feet of...
, 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
Axe historique ("historical axis") is a line of monuments, buildings and thoroughfares that extends from the centre of
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
,
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
, to the west. It is also known as the "Voie Triomphale" (triumphal way).
The Axe Historique began with the creation of the
Champs-ÉlyséesThe Avenue des Champs-Élysées is a prestigious avenue in Paris, France. With its cinemas, cafés, luxury specialty shops and clipped chestnut trees, the Avenue des Champs-Élysées is one of the most famous streets in the world, and with rents as high as USD1.5 million per 1,000 square feet of...
, 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. Today the Tuileries Gardens (
Jardins des Tuileries) remain, preserving their wide central pathway, though the palace was burned down during the
Paris CommuneThe Paris Commune was a government that briefly ruled Paris, from March 28 to May 28, 1871. It existed before the split between anarchists and socialists had taken place, and it is hailed by both groups as the first assumption of power by the working class...
, 1871.
Between the Tuileries' gardens and the Champs Élysées extension a jumble of buildings remained on the site of
Place de la ConcordeThe Place de la Concorde is one of the major public squares in Paris, France. In fact, in terms of area, its 86,400 square metres make it the largest square in the French capital...
until early in the reign of
Louis XVLouis XV ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death on 10 May 1774...
, 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 CarrouselThe Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel is a triumphal arch in Paris, France. It is located on the Place du Carrousel, within the precincts of the Palais du Louvre and was commissioned in 1806 to commemorate Napoleon's military victories of the previous year...
was centered on the palace (and so on the same axial line that was developing beyond the palace). Long-standing plans to link the entrance court of the
"Vieux LouvreThe Louvre Palace , on the Right Bank of the Seine in Paris, is a former royal palace situated between the Tuileries Gardens and the church of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois...
," as the disused palace was called, with the court of 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 join.
To the west, the completion of the
Arc de TriompheThe Arc de Triomphe is a monument in Paris, France that stands in the centre of the Place Charles de Gaulle, also known as the "Place de l'Étoile". It is at the western end of the Champs-Élysées. The triumphal arch honors those who fought for France, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. On the...
in 1836 on the
Place de l'ÉtoileThe Place de l'Étoile is a large road junction in Paris, France, the meeting point of twelve straight avenues including the Champs-Élysées which continues to the east...
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 Pyramide du Louvre in the Cour Napoléon of the Musée du Louvre.
The axis was extended again westwards along the
Avenue de la Grande Armée, past the city boundary of Paris to
La DéfenseLa Défense is a major business district for the city of Paris. With a population of 20,844, it is centered in an oval freeway loop straddling the Hauts-de-Seine département municipalities of Nanterre, Courbevoie and Puteaux...
. This was originally a large junction, named for a statue commemorating the defence of Paris in the
Franco-Prussian WarThe Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between France and Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and Bavaria...
.
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 MitterrandFrançois Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand served as the President of France from 1981 to 1995, elected as representative of the Socialist Party . First elected during the May 1981 presidential election, he became the first socialist President of the Fifth Republic and the first left-wing head of...
, that a project was initiated, with a modern 20th century version of the Arc de Triomphe. This is the work of
DanishDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries; southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and it is bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea...
architect
Johann Otto von SpreckelsenJohann Otto von Spreckelsen was a Danish architect.He studied at the Royal Academy of Arts in Copenhagen, and later served as director up to his death....
,
La Grande Arche de la Fraternité (also known as simply
La Grande ArcheLa Grande Arche de la Défense is a monument and building in the business district of La Défense to the west of Paris, France...
and, L'Arche de la Défense), a monument to humanity and humanitarian ideals rather than militaristic victories. It was inaugurated in 1990.
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 MontparnasseTour Maine-Montparnasse , also commonly named Tour Montparnasse, is a 210-metre tall office skyscraper located in Paris, France, in the area of Montparnasse. Constructed from 1969 to 1972, it is the tallest skyscraper in France and the ninth tallest building in the European Union...
stands exactly behind the
Eiffel TowerThe Eiffel Tower is a 19th century iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris that has become both a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world. The Eiffel Tower, which is the tallest building in Paris, is the single most visited paid monument in...
.
The Seine-Arche project is extending the historical axis to the West through the city of
NanterreNanterre is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located west from the center of Paris.Nanterre is the préfecture of the Hauts-de-Seine département, being the seat of the Arrondissement of Nanterre....
, but with a slight curve.
External links
- Entry on greatbuildings.com