PLACE CHARLES-DE-GAULLE

Description

Essentials about Place Charles-de-Gaulle in brief

Place Charles-de-Gaulle is one of the largest and most famous squares in Paris. On the one hand, because the huge, circular and star-shaped square, into which twelve large avenues flow, is already easily recognizable from the air. And secondly, because in the center of the square is one of the landmarks of Paris: The Arc de Triomphe.

The history of Place Charles-de-Gaulle

Place Charles-de-Gaulle is often referred to by its old name, Place de l’Étoile (meaning “Star Square”), which the square bore until it was renamed in honor of former French President de Gaulle in 1970. It owed its name to the fact that it was built in the 2nd half of the 18th century on a former Parisian hill called Butte de l’Étoile or Étoile de Chaillot, where various streets crossed. But even in the 19th and 20th centuries, the square rightly bore its old name, as twelve major avenues flow into it in a star shape. The most famous of them is certainly Avenue des Champs-Élysées, which starts here and leads to Place de la Concorde. By the way, all avenues leading into Place Charles-de-Gaulle bear Napoleonic names.

Place Charles-de-Gaulle as a traffic junction

At the intersections of the twelve avenues with a narrow street encircling the entire square, twelve symmetrical 16-meter-high town palaces with identical facades were built in the mid-19th century. Since, in the opinion of the Parisian city planner Haussmann, the houses, which were too small, did not harmonize with the huge square, trees were planted in front of them to hide the unrepresentative houses. Place Charles-de-Gaulle, by the way, should not be crossed on foot (that would be tantamount to a suicide attempt given the prevailing traffic conditions). If you want to get to the Arc de Triomphe in the middle of the square, you have to cross a tunnel.