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Postcards of the Champs-Élysées and place de la Concorde, featuring pictures of l’arc de Triomphe, the Eternal Flame, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and the Fontaine des Mers. Take a look at postcards of… Regardez cette page en français…

Send a postcard with your greetings…  Step 1:  Choose an image by checking a box. You may only pick one image per card, however you may come back as often as you wish and send as many postcards as you like. Click on images or captions to see the thumbnails much larger, and proceed to the bottom of this page when you have chosen an image so you can address and send your postcard from Paris. PS: Stamps are not required… don’t lick your screen!

A view under the arches of arc de Triomphe at night

L’arc de Triomphe in the middle of étoile Générale de Gaulle

 L’arc de Triomphe was commissioned by Napoléon in 1806 after his victory at Austerlitz, and finally completed in 1836 under the reign of King Louis-Philippe.

The western façade of l’arc de Triomphe
A nocturnal transversal view under the arches of arc de Triomphe

L’arc de Triomphe looking south towards avenue Kléber

 The first Roman arches were located at the entries of the cities. Soldiers returning from a military campaign had to lay down their weapons before passing under the arch. By doing so, they were symbolically reinstated as a normal citizen.

L’arc de Triomphe in the spring time
Ordered by the July Monarchy, François Rude, an artist from Dijon made the sculpture nicknamed «The Marseillaise».

La Marseillaise, celebrated on l’arc de Triomphe

 Behind his right shoulder is the eternal flame, and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

A soldier in front of l’arc de Triomphe on July 14, the French national holiday, 2003
L’arc de Triomphe viewed from the champs-Élysées on a very cold January night.

L’arc de Triomphe just after New Year’s

 L’arc de Triomphe viewed from the north side of the champs-Élysées

L’arc de Triomphe and l’avenue des champs-Élysées towards midnight, on a warm summer evening
The Opéra Garnier was finished five years after Napoleon III was overthrown, in 1875.

The eastern side of Paris’ Opéra Garnier

 Built between 1862 and 1875, the Palais Garnier is a baroque example of neoclassicism: It has an ornamented façade, monumental stairs and an Italian-style hall with paintings by Marc Chagall on the ceiling.

Charles Garnier’s Opéra is a legacy of Haussman’s architecture
L’Harmonie, a group of statues sculpted by Charles-Alphonse-Achille Gumery, at the top of the western edge of the Opéra Garnier’s main façade.

L’Harmonie, a sculpture at the top of the Opéra Garnier

 L’église Sainte-Marie-Madeleine traces its origins to 1764. In 1806 Napoleon restarted the construction as a temple to the glory of the French army. Under the restoration, King Louis the 18th decided the structure would be used as a church.

L’église de la Madeleine seen from rue Royale
The upper portion of la Madeleine’s façade features a Last Judgement scene, sculpted by Henri Lemaire in 1833.

The central pediment of église Sainte-Marie-Madeleine’s façade

 Inside l’église de la Madeleine: Above is a painting by Jules-Claude Ziegler, and below, a mosaic by Charles-Joseph Lameire.

Inside l’église Sainte-Marie-Madeleine
The construction of l’église Sainte-Marie-Madeleine took place as Paris expanded west into faubourg Saint-Honoré in the second half of the 18th century.

La Madeleine seen from rue Duphot

 King Louis the 15th, laid the first stone of the Madeleine April 3rd, 1763. Construction of the Madeleine was stopped by the revolution in 1791, when the roman columns and a few walls had been built.

The western corner of église de la Madeleine
A History of Christianity, a painting by Jules-Claude Ziegler in the cupola of the choir inside l’église de la Madeleine, featuring Mary Magdalene, supported by clouds carried by three angels.

The History of Christianity, a mural above the high altar of l’église Sainte-Marie-Madeleine

 Around here people refer to parking tickets as “Papillons”, or butterflies

Writing tickets on the champs-Élysées
The 3,300-year-old Obelisk of Luxor, raised in the middle of place de la Concorde in 1836, was originally inside the Temple of Thebes.

The Obelisk of Luxor at place de la Concorde

 The Obelisk of Luxor’s red granite column is 75 feet tall including the base, and weighs over 250 tons.

The golden pyramid at the top of the Luxor Obelisk
In total, the fountain, built entirely of cast iron, weighs about 50 tons.

The Fontaine des Mers, place de la Concorde

 Place de la Concord: from left to right we see l’Hôtel de Crillon, the Fontaine des Mers, the obelisk of Luxor, and église de la Madeleine, at the other end of rue Royale.

Place de la Concorde, looking towards the north
A statue of a triton in the Fontaine des Mers. The skin is made of dark brown Florentine bronze, their clothes of green Venetian bronze, the accessories and ornaments are gilt.

A triton in the Fontaine des Mers, place de la Concorde

 The square was given its present name after the Reign of Terror in the hope that it would be a place of peace and harmony

The setting sun lights up a fountain’s spray at place de la Concorde
The fountains in place de la Concorde were built in the nineteenth century, and depict river and maritime navigation

Three statues in the fontaine des Fleuves at place de la Concorde

 It’s very beautiful during the day, but be careful as you approach if it’s a windy day.

The Fontaine des Mers sprays down Parisian pedestrians
Celebrating the arrival of water in Paris, the fontaine des Fleuves is full of symbols representing rivers.

Water spilling over the edge of fontaine des Fleuves

 A profile of one of the Fontaine des Mers three tritons, with a nymph behind him.

A profile of one of the Fontaine des Mers’ tritons, place de la Concorde
A cluster of streetlights at place de la Concorde. From the end of the nineteenth century, gas streetlights were progressively replaced with electric versions.

Streetlights in place de la Concorde

 The Rights of Man and Citizens (les Droits de l’Homme et des Citoyens) are written on the tiles. All the spaces and accents have been removed, and all the punctuation moved to the bottom two rows.

Place de la Concorde métro station
The Grand Palais, seen across pont Alexandre III, from quai d’Orsay on the left Bank.

The Grand Palais seen from the left bank

 Iron girders supporting the Grand Palais’ skylight.

The ceiling of the Grand Palais
Towards the end of rue de la Chaussée d’Antin, l’église de la Trinité was commissioned by Georges Eugène Haussmann in 1861, finished in 1867 and consecrated in 1913.

L’église de la Sainte-Trinité, at place d’Estienne d’Orves

 Colonne de Vendôme was built from metal melted down 1250 artillery pieces taken from Russian and Austrian armies at the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805.

Colonne Vendôme, a monument to Napoléon
The colonne de Vendôme tells the story of the battle of Austerlitz on 425 bronze plaques hung on the column’s stone core.

A detail of the bas-relief sculptures on Colonne Vendôme

 Windows on the curved mansard roofline of the top three floors at 9 rue de Castiglione, between rue de Rivoli and place Vendôme.

Windows on the east side of rue de Castiglione
 Step 2:  Enter both your and your recipient’s names and e-mail addresses in the boxes below. Please be certain of your recipient’s e-mail address.  Step 3:  Select your Text and Background Colors using the two pulldowns menus, be sure to pick contrasting colors. Text Color:  Background: 
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Your E-Mail Address:  Step 4:  Enter a subject for your greetings:
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 Step 5:  Write the message of your postcard: If the person to whom you are sending a card has a large computer screen, you’ll have plenty of space to write. You can simulate smaller screens by resizing your browser window.
 Step 6:  Sign your postcard:   Step 7:  Preview your postcard from Paris, or start over. To preview your card, click on the Preview button below. Your card will not be sent until you press the Send Postcard button on the preview screen. 
How to order prints…
All images are © 2008, David Henry, all rights reserved. Written permission is required for any use.