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The Champs-Élysées (pronounced /ʃɑ̃zelize/, IPA; /SA~ ze.liz.e/, X-SAMPA; literally the " Elysian fields") is a broad avenue in the French capital Paris. With its cinemas, cafés, and luxury specialty shops, the Champs-Élysées is one of the most famous streets in the world. The name refers to the Elysian Fields, the kingdom of the dead in Greek mythology.
The avenue runs 3 km through the 8th arrondissement in northwestern Paris, from the Place de la Concorde in the east with its obelisk to the Place Charles de Gaulle (formerly the Place de l'ÉtoileThe Place de l'Etoile is a large circus in Paris ( France), the meeting point of 12 avenues (hence the name, roughly "Star Square") including the Champs-Elysees which continues to the east. It was renamed Place Charles de Gaulle in 1970 in honor of presid) in the west, location of the Arc de Triomphe, and forms part of the line of the Axe historiqueThe Axe historique (historical axis) is a line of monuments, buildings and thoroughfares that run out from the centre of Paris, France, to the west. It is also known as the "Voie Triomphale" (triumphal way). This began with the creation of the Champs Elys.
One of the principal tourist destinations in Paris, the lower part of the Champs-Élysées is bordered by green space ( Marigny Square ) and by such buildings as the Théâtre Marigny and the Grand Palais (comprising the Palais de la Découverte ). The Élysée PalaceThe lysee Palace Palais de l'Elysee located 55, rue du Faubourg Saint Honore in Paris, not far from the Champs-Elysees), is the official residence of the President of France, where his office is located and the Council of Ministers meets. On the afternoon is a little bit to the north, not on the avenue itself. Farther up to the west, it is lined by cinemas, theaters, cafés and restaurants (most notably Fouquet's ), and luxury specialty shops.
The Champs-Élysées were originally fields and market gardens, until 1616Events Dirk Hartog lands on an island off the Western Australian coast Pocahontas arrives in England War between Venice and Austria Collegium Musicum founded in Prague Nicolaus Copernicus' De revolutionibus is placed on the Index of Forbidden Books by the, when Marie de Medici decided to extend the garden axis of the Palais des TuileriesUp to 1871 the Tuileries Palace was a palace in Paris, France, on the right bank of the River Seine. After the death of Henry II of France in 1559, his widow, Catherine de' Medici ( 1519- 1589) planned a new palace. She began the building of the palace of with an avenue of trees. As late as 1716, Guillaume de L'Isle's map shows that a short stretch of roads and fields and market garden plots still separated the grand axe of the Tuileries gardens from the planted "Avenue des Thuilleries", which was punctuated by a circular basin where the Rond Point stands today, already with some planted avenues radiating from it that led to the river through woods and fields. In 1724Events January 14 King Philip V of Spain abdicates the throne February 20 The premiere of Giulio Cesare an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel, takes place in London June 23 Treaty of Constantinople signed. Partitioned Persia between the Ottoman Empir, the Tuileries garden axis and the avenue were connected and extended, leading beyond the Place de l'Étoile; the "Elysian Fields" were open parkland flanking it, soon filled in with bosquets of trees formally planted in straight rank and file. To the east the unloved and neglected "Vieux Louvre" (as it is called on the maps), still hemmed in by buildings, was not part of the axis. In a map of 1724, the Grande Avenue des Champs-Elisée stretches west from a newly-cleared Place du Pont Tournant soon to be renamed for Louis XV and now the Place de la Concorde.
By the late 1700s, the Champs-Elysées had become a fashionable avenue; the bosquet plantings on either side had thickened enough to be given formal rectangular glades (cabinets de verdure). The gardens of houses built along the Faubourg St-Honoré backed onto the formal bosquets. The grandest of them was the Élysée Palace. A semi-circle of housefronts defined the north side of the Rond Point. Queen Marie Antoinette drove with her friends and took music lessons at the grand Hôtel de Crillon on the Place Louis XV. The avenue from the Rond Point to the Etoile was built up during the Empire. The Champs-Élysées itself became city property in 1828, and footpaths, fountains, and gas lighting were added. Over the years, the avenue has undergone numerous transitions, most recently in 1993, when the sidewalks were widened.