History
The original name of the area was the Butte Chaillot ("Chaillot mound", named after the locality). At the time it was the point of convergence of several hunting trails. The Marquis de Marigny constructed monumental roadworks, completed in 1777, on the mound when he was establishing the plantations along the Champs Élysées. This work included paving of the road in the form of a star, as it still exists today. The junction became known as the Place de l'Étoile. There is no pedestrian access to the Arc de Triomphe from any of the twelve avenues as there is constant movement of automobile traffic on and around the road junction, but an underpass is accessible to the Arc de Triomphe.
In 1787, during the construction of the Wall of the Farmers-General (Mur des Fermiers généraux), la Barrière de l'Étoile (also known as the Barrière de Neuilly) was built to the design of Claude Nicolas Ledoux for the collection of the octroi tax at the entrance to Paris. The wall and the two buildings built on either side of the Place de l'Étoile were demolished in the nineteenth century.
The Place de l'Étoile and the avenues leading to it were extensively redesigned as part of Baron Haussmann's urban planning projects.
Read more about this topic: Place Charles De Gaulle
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The history of the genesis or the old mythology repeats itself in the experience of every child. He too is a demon or god thrown into a particular chaos, where he strives ever to lead things from disorder into order.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)
“History takes time.... History makes memory.”
—Gertrude Stein (18741946)
“The history of progress is written in the blood of men and women who have dared to espouse an unpopular cause, as, for instance, the black mans right to his body, or womans right to her soul.”
—Emma Goldman (18691940)