The brilliant architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart had the idea to submit to Louis 14 the project of a great royal square with a statue of king on his horse and sculptor Girardon could do it.
The place, originally designed to frame the royal statue kept the name of Place Louis-Le-Grand until the Revolution. The statue was overthrown during the revolution to take the name of the place des piques in reference to the revolutionary section.
Later, Napoleon decides to erect a column in honor of his great victories and especially to the great victory of Austerlitz and select the Place Vendôme. The artillery pieces taken from the Austrians and the Russians were poured to build the column to become the Vendome column. At the top of the column, a statue of the Emperor Napoleon 1st dressed in a Roman toga, represented like an Imperator Caesar.
The town will tear down the monument and the second empire rehabilitate the reconstituted statue.
The mansions around the Place Vendome occupied by the aristocracy and the world of finance were decorated by leading architects and designers for centuries. One of these most famous mansion today worldwide is at No. 17 site of the current Hotel Ritz. After years of renovation and lifting work, Place Vendome reveal his beauty again. Driving from Opera throught rue de la Paix crossing the wonderful place Vendome at night is a pure Parisian pleasure.
