<p>Views of Place de la Concorde from the Seine. Can't see much as was on the boat on the river.
</p><p>It was three days before Bastille Day, and they were preparing the square for the celebrations.
</p><p>Built by King Louis XV in the 18th century is one of Paris's most famous squares, This is also the spot were King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette were beheaded in 1793. The square used to be called Place de la Louis XV but was renamed during the revolution.
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The Place was designed by Ange-Jacques Gabriel in 1755 as a moat-skirted octagon between the Champs-Élysées to the west and the Tuileries Gardens to the east. Filled with statues and fountains, the area was named Place Louis XV  to honor the king at that time. The square showcased an equestrian statue of the king, which had been commissioned in 1748 by the city of Paris, sculpted mostly by Edmé Bouchardon, and completed by Jean-Baptiste Pigalle after the death of Bouchardon.
</p><p>At the north end, two magnificent identical stone buildings were constructed. Separated by the rue Royale, these structures remain among the best examples of Louis XV style architecture. Initially, the eastern building served as the French Naval Ministry. Shortly after its construction, the western building became the opulent home of the Duc d'Aumont. It was later purchased by the Comte de Crillon, whose family resided there until 1907. The famous luxury hôtel which currently occupies the building took its name from its previous owners. The Hôtel de Crillon served as the headquarters of the occupying German army during World War II.
</p><p>During the French Revolution the statue of Louis XV of France was torn down and the area renamed "Place de la Révolution". The new revolutionary government erected the guillotine in the square, and it was here that King Louis XVI was executed on January 21, 1793. Other important figures guillotined on the site, often in front of cheering crowds, were Queen Marie Antoinette, Princess Élisabeth of France, Charlotte Corday, Madame du Barry, Georges Danton, Camille Desmoulins, Antoine Lavoisier, Maximilien Robespierre, Louis de Saint-Just and Olympe de Gouge.
</p><p>The guillotine was most active during the "Reign of Terror", in the summer of 1794, when in a single month more than 1,300 people were executed. A year later, when the revolution was taking a more moderate course, the guillotine was removed from the square.
The Fountain of River Commerce and Navigation, one of the two Fontaines de la Concorde (1840) on the Place de la Concorde. Behind: the Hôtel de Crillon; to the left: the embassy of the United States of America.
Execution of Louis XVI in the then Place de la Révolution. The empty pedestal in front of him had supported a statue of his grandfather, Louis XV, torn down during one of the many revolutionary riots.
</p><p>The square was then renamed Place de la Concorde under the Directory (1795–1799) as a symbolic gesture of reconciliation after the turmoil of the French Revolution. It underwent a series of name changes in the nineteenth century, but the city eventually settled on Place de la Concorde.
</p><p>Several boats below the square on the Seine.
</p><p>Can see the Luxor Obelisk from here.
</p><p>The Luxor Obelisk is a 23 metres high Egyptian obelisk standing at the centre of the Place de la Concorde in Paris, France. It was originally located at the entrance to the Luxor Temple, in Egypt.  
</p><p>In 1829 the Ottoman viceroy of Egypt, Mehmet Ali, offered two obelisks to France from the entrance of the Luxor Temple. The obelisk now in Paris arrived in 1833, and three years later in 1836, King Louis-Philippe had it placed at the centre of the Place de la Concorde, where a guillotine used to stand during the revolution. The other one stayed in Egypt, too difficult  and heavy to move to France with the technology of the period. The French President (Francois Mitterrand) of the early 1990s gave the second obelisk back to Egypt.
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The obelisk is made of red granite. It is decorated with hieroglyphics of the reign of the Pharaoh Ramses II. Missing it's cap (possibly stolen in the 6th century BC), the French Government added a gold-leafed pyramid to the top of the obelisk in 1998.
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/people/39415781@N06">Elliott Brown</a> from Birmingham, United Kingdom
CC BY 2.0
<p><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ell-r-brown/4911322640/">Place de la Concorde from the Seine- boats</a>
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