place

Champ de Mars massacre

1791 events of the French Revolution18th century in ParisGilbert du Motier, Marquis de LafayetteMassacres committed by FranceMassacres in France
Massacres in the 1790sPeople killed in the French RevolutionProtest-related deaths
Malheureuse journée du 17 juillet 1791
Malheureuse journée du 17 juillet 1791

The Champ de Mars massacre took place on 17 July 1791 in Paris at the Champ de Mars against a crowd of republican protesters amid the French Revolution. Two days before, the National Constituent Assembly issued a decree that King Louis XVI would retain his throne under a constitutional monarchy. This decision came after Louis and his family had unsuccessfully tried to flee France in the Flight to Varennes the month before. Later that day, leaders of the republicans in France rallied against this decision, eventually leading the Marquis de Lafayette to order the massacre.Jacques Pierre Brissot was the editor and main writer of Le Patriote français and president of the Comité des Recherches of Paris, and he drew up a petition demanding the removal of the king. A crowd of 50,000 people gathered at the Champ de Mars on 17 July to sign the petition, and about 6,000 signed it. However, two suspicious people had been found hiding at the Champ de Mars earlier that day, "possibly with the intention of getting a better view of the ladies' ankles"; they were hanged by those who found them, and Paris Mayor Jean Sylvain Bailly used this incident to declare martial law. Lafayette and the National Guard under his command were able to disperse the crowd. Georges Danton and Camille Desmoulins led the crowd, and they returned in even higher numbers that afternoon. The larger crowd was also more determined than the first, and Lafayette again tried to disperse it. In retaliation, they threw stones at the National Guard. After firing unsuccessful warning shots, the National Guard opened fire directly on the crowd. The exact numbers of dead and wounded are unknown; estimates range from a dozen to 50 dead.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Champ de Mars massacre (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Champ de Mars massacre
Place Jacques Rueff, Paris 7th Arrondissement (Paris)

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Nearby Places
placeShow on map

Wikipedia: Champ de Mars massacreContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 48.856111 ° E 2.298333 °
placeShow on map

Address

Place Jacques Rueff
75007 Paris, 7th Arrondissement (Paris)
Ile-de-France, France
mapOpen on Google Maps

Malheureuse journée du 17 juillet 1791
Malheureuse journée du 17 juillet 1791
Share experience

Nearby Places

Exposition Universelle (1900)
Exposition Universelle (1900)

The Exposition Universelle of 1900, better known in English as the 1900 Paris Exposition, was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from 14 April to 12 November 1900, to celebrate the achievements of the past century and to accelerate development into the next. It was held at the esplanade of Les Invalides, the Champ de Mars, the Trocadéro and at the banks of the Seine between them, with an additional section in the Bois de Vincennes, and it was visited by more than 50 million people. Many international congresses and other events were held within the framework of the Exposition, including the 1900 Summer Olympics. Many technological innovations were displayed at the Fair, including the Grande Roue de Paris ferris wheel, the Rue de l'Avenir moving sidewalk, the first ever regular passenger trolleybus line, escalators, diesel engines, electric cars, dry cell batteries, electric fire engines, talking films, the telegraphone (the first magnetic audio recorder), the galalith and the matryoshka dolls. It also brought international attention to the Art Nouveau style. Additionally, it showcased France as a major colonial power through numerous pavilions built on the hill of the Trocadéro Palace. Major structures built for the Exposition include the Grand Palais, the Petit Palais, the Pont Alexandre III, the Gare d'Orsay railroad station and the entrances of Paris Métro stations by Hector Guimard; all of them remaining today, including two original entrances by Guimard.

Monument to the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
Monument to the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

The Monument to the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen or Monument des Droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen in French, is located in Paris, in the Champs de Mars gardens on Avenue Charles-Risler. Commissioned by the City of Paris, it was erected in 1989 on the occasion of the bicentennial of the French Revolution. Inspired by Egyptian mastaba tombs, it includes many references to revolutionary imagery. It is the work of the Czech sculptor Ivan Theimer. The monument is composed of several elements: a freestone square plane construction, opening into an octagonal interior space, lit from above, its external facades are adorned with graven texts, various reliefs and 12 stones inlaid with bronze seals, one for each of the European Community member states in 1989; two bronze obelisks covered with a profusion of finely detailed symbols and texts, including that of the 1789 French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen; a statue of a man wearing a toga and holding several documents in his hands; the statue of a man inviting onlookers to read the texts carved on the obelisks; the statue of a woman with a child who wears a hat made of newspaper (chronology of the events of 1989);On the southwest façade (closest to the Champs de Mars) are: a triangle; symbol frequently used by Freemasons to evoke the loftiness of human thought; a text commemorating the bicentennial of the French 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen is carved in the stone; a sundialOn the northeast facade, nearest rue de Belgrade : a bronze door framed by two columns : numerous reliefs and images of historical documents of the revolutionary period are to be found on the door; an oculus located above the door represents an OuroborosOn the two other facades stones are carved with the names and the seal of each of the 12 capital cities of the European Community member countries in 1989: On the northeast side: Lisboa - Madrid - Paris - Bruss/xelles - London - Dublin On the southeast side: αθήνα - Roma - Luxembourg - Bonn - Amsterdam - KobenhavnThe entire structure is set on an elevated podium two steps above ground level. Bronze fire pots are set on each corner of the podium.

Eiffel Tower
Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower ( EYE-fəl; French: tour Eiffel [tuʁ‿ɛfɛl] (listen)) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. Locally nicknamed "La dame de fer" (French for "Iron Lady"), it was constructed from 1887 to 1889 as the centerpiece of the 1889 World's Fair and was initially criticized by some of France's leading artists and intellectuals for its design, but it has become a global cultural icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world. The Eiffel Tower is the most visited monument with an entrance fee in the world; 6.91 million people ascended it in 2015. The Tower was made a Monument historique in 1964 and named part of UNESCO World Heritage Site ("Paris, Banks of the Seins") in 1991.The tower is 330 metres (1,083 ft) tall, about the same height as an 81-storey building, and the tallest structure in Paris. Its base is square, measuring 125 metres (410 ft) on each side. During its construction, the Eiffel Tower surpassed the Washington Monument to become the tallest man-made structure in the world, a title it held for 41 years until the Chrysler Building in New York City was finished in 1930. It was the first structure in the world to surpass both the 200-metre and 300-metre mark in height. Due to the addition of a broadcasting aerial at the top of the tower in 1957, it is now taller than the Chrysler Building by 5.2 metres (17 ft). Excluding transmitters, the Eiffel Tower is the second tallest free-standing structure in France after the Millau Viaduct. The tower has three levels for visitors, with restaurants on the first and second levels. The top level's upper platform is 276 m (906 ft) above the ground – the highest observation deck accessible to the public in the European Union. Tickets can be purchased to ascend by stairs or lift to the first and second levels. The climb from ground level to the first level is over 300 steps, as is the climb from the first level to the second. Although there is a staircase to the top level, it is usually accessible only by lift.