The Luxor Obelisk
The oldest monument in Paris: 3,300 years of Egyptian granite at the city's heart, its pedestal illustrating the epic voyage from Luxor to the Seine.
Cristian Bortes from Cluj-Napoca, Romania — CC BY 2.0 · Agence Rol — Public domain · Agence Rol. Agence photographique (commanditaire) — Public domain · Agence Rol. Agence photographique (commanditaire) — Public domain
As a corridor yes, as a lone destination no: make it a twenty-minute stop on the Tuileries–Champs-Élysées route or before the Orangerie, and you'll have had its best.
Egypt's ruler Muhammad Ali Pasha gifted it to France in 1830; moving and raising it took seven years and was a global engineering event — the details are engraved on its gilded pedestal.
The Tuileries and Orangerie east, the Champs-Élysées west, Rue Royale and the Madeleine north, and across the river the French parliament — the crossroads of all classic Paris.
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The largest square in Paris, and the one with the greatest historical shiver: here, where tourist routes now cross between the Tuileries and the Champs-Élysées, the revolutionary guillotine stood, and King Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antoinette were executed before the crowds. It was later renamed "Concorde" — harmony — to close that bloody chapter. At its centre rises the Luxor Obelisk: a 3,300-year-old granite column from the Temple of Luxor, gifted to France by Muhammad Ali Pasha in 1830 — making it the oldest monument in all of Paris, older than the city itself by centuries. Around it, two gilded fountains inspired by Rome's, and eight statues personifying France's great cities. The square is more corridor than destination: give it half an hour while crossing between the Tuileries and the Champs-Élysées, and pause at its northwest edge for the finest perspective up the avenue to the Arc de Triomphe.
The oldest monument in Paris: 3,300 years of Egyptian granite at the city's heart, its pedestal illustrating the epic voyage from Luxor to the Seine.
The Maritime and River fountains in green and gold — the royal axis's most photogenic watery backdrop.
Stand where history turned: a small marker near the Tuileries entrance notes the site of the 1793 guillotine — nothing else recalls it but your knowing.
From the northwest edge your eye climbs the entire avenue to the Arc de Triomphe — the perfect starting point for the Champs-Élysées stroll.
Between the Tuileries and the Champs-Élysées, 75008 Paris