Place Vendome[Metro: Concorde] Place Vendôme a famous square in the 1st arrondissement near Place de la Concorde located to the north of the Tuileries Gardens and east of the Église de la Madeleine. It is the starting point of the Rue de la Paix.
The Place Vendome was laid out in 1702 as a monument to the glory of the armies of Louis XIV, the Grand Monarque and called Place des Conquêtes, to be renamed Place Louis le Grand, when the conquests proved temporary; an equestrian statue of the king was set up in its center.
Napoleon erected the present column, modelled after Trajan's Column, to celebrate the victory of Austerlitz; its spiralling veneers of bas-relief bronze plates (by the sculptor Pierre-Nolasque Bergeret) were made out of cannon taken from the combined armies of Europe, according to his propaganda.
Nowdays, the Place Vendome is famous for its fashionable and deluxe hotels: The Hotel Ritz Paris and the Bristol, which Edward VII preferred, now called the Vendome. Many famous dress designers have had their salons in the square. |
Delicious
Furl it!
Spurl
Digg
Scuttle
