Champs-Élysées and Tuileries
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Map of Voie triomphale

Champs Elysées

The nine-kilometre axis that extends from the Louvre at the heart of the city to the Défense business district in the west is often referred to as the Voie Triomphale, or Triumphal Way. Offering impressive vistas along the entire length, it also incorporates some of the city's most famous landmarks – the avenue des Champs-Élysées, place de la Concorde, Tuileries gardens and the Arc de Triomphe. The whole ensemble is so regular and geometrical it looks as though it might have been laid out by a single town planner rather than successive kings, emperors and presidents, all keen to add their stamp and promote French power and prestige. Last to join the list was President Mitterrand (whose grands projets for the city outdid even Napoleon's) – his glass pyramid entrance to the Louvre and immense marble-clad cubic arch at La Défense effectively marking each end of the historic axis. The two great constructions echo each other in scale and geometry, with both aligned at the same slight angle away from the axis – a detail that, given the distance involved, has to be appreciated conceptually rather than visually.