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- 1. One of the panels presenting
Concorde Park
Photo : Didier Rykner (11/1/24) - See the image in its page
The Place de la Concorde, considered by architectural historians to be one of the most beautiful squares in the world, has been mistreated for years, as we have regularly denounced here since Anne Hidalgo was first elected in 2014. After the painful end of the beautiful friendship between the mayor and Marcel Campion, and the definitive departure of the Ferris wheel, we might have hoped that the square would finally be spared. But that was without counting on the stupidity, lack of culture and hatred of Paris of this municipality, incapable of understanding the beauty of this place and its historical importance. Its condition, while somewhat improved thanks to the restoration of the fountains and a few city statues, remains disastrous [1]. The Town Hall sees it as a fairground on which to install anything it wants, and it doesn’t hesitate to do so.
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- 2. Place de la Concorde basketball court
Photo: Didier Rykner (11/1/24) - See the image in its page
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- 3. Circuit (scooter? skateboard?
anything else?) on Place de la Concorde
Photo: Didier Rykner (11/1/24) - See the image in its page
As a result, the site is constantly and regularly occupied by countless "temporary" structures to house this or that event that has no business being there (rugby world cup fan zone, employment forum, Olympic stadium, etc). It is also threatened in the longer term by the town hall’s plans for a major redevelopment after the Olympic Games, for which videos and visuals, each more delirious than the last, have been published in the press.
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- 4. Unidentified object on Place de la Concorde
Photo : Didier Rykner (11/1/24) - See the image in its page
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- 5. When Emmanuel Grégoire confuses
the Alexandre III Bridge and the Place de la Concorde - See the image in its page
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- 6. Concrete blocks on Place de la Concorde
Photo: Didier Rykner (11/1/24) - See the image in its page
But while waiting for the Olympics, first deputy Emmanuel Grégoire noticed that the square was miraculously spared from events for two months. As he told Ouest-France: "We had two months of transition between the two events, and it would have been a shame not to take advantage of it". The elected official, who believes that the Place de la Concorde is a wasteland that can be used for anything, has therefore decided to install "a new and unique sporting experience in the heart of the capital" there from 27 December 2023 to 25 February 2024. And since he probably thinks the French language is overrated, he’s called it "Concorde Park" (ill. 1). It consists of a few miserable "sports" facilities, a basketball court (ill. 2), circuits for scooters and skates (ill. 3) or equipment whose role we struggle to understand (ill. 4)... To celebrate the start of this unprecedented event, the first deputy even tweeted showing a bike rising into the sky in front of... the Alexandre III bridge (ill. 5). When we say they don’t know Paris, they really don’t.
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- 7. Storage of site barriers
place de la Concorde
Photo: Didier Rykner (11/1/24) - See the image in its page
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- 8. Bitumen deposited on cobblestones
place de la Concorde
Photo: Didier Rykner (11/1/24) - See the image in its page
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- 9. Broken floor at Place de la Concorde
Photo: Didier Rykner (11/1/24) - See the image in its page
We visited the site yesterday, Wednesday afternoon, a day when children don’t have school and could therefore rush to these marvellous attractions imagined especially for them. The little ingrates have no gratitude: despite the sunshine, the playgrounds were empty or almost empty. But the square wasn’t, apart from the fact that some parts of it have been ruined (ill. 6): you can still see those superb concrete blocks (ill. 7), some of which have been tagged, construction site barriers are everywhere (ill. 8), bitumen has been added to the cobbles (ill. 9) to install the "attractions" that are to the Neuneu festival what this one is to Disneyworld, we see several containers and containers/fry shacks (ill. 10 and 11) and it is occupied by many trucks (ill. 12 and 13), thus transforming the work of Gabriel and Hittorf into a car park for truckers. Remember that the authors of this disaster are the same people who regularly denounce the "motorway" that is the Place de la Concorde.
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- 10. Wooden barriers and container
place de la Concorde
Photo: Didier Rykner (11/1/24) - See the image in its page
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- 11. Container (and storage of site barriers) on Place de la Concorde
Photo : Didier Rykner (11/1/24) - See the image in its page
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- 12. Trucks parked
on a motorway service area
on the Place de la Concorde
Photo: Didier Rykner (11/1/24) - See the image in its page
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- 13. Trucks parked
on a motorway service area
on the Place de la Concorde
Photo: Didier Rykner (11/1/24) - See the image in its page
Imagine St Peter’s Square in Rome, St Mark’s Square in Venice or Salamanca’s Plaça Major treated like this. No, you can’t imagine it, because it’s unimaginable. Yet this is how Paris City Council is transforming its city, because of course the Place de la Concorde is just one example of how Paris is disappearing, under the watchful eye of the Ministry of Culture. There are no words to describe this, or rather there are, but we can’t use them here...