In the center stands the Obelisk of Luxor,
of reddish granite, which was brought at great expense from Egypt and
tells of Rameses II. and his successor. Other ornaments are twenty
rostral columns, bearing twin burners. On grand occasions this place
and the avenue are illuminated by thirty thousand gas lights.
In the Place de la Concord the guillotine did its terrible work in the
months between January 21st, 1793, and May 3rd, 1795, when thousands of
Royalists and Republicans perished. Two enormous fountains adorned with
Tritons, Nereids, and Dolphins beautify the court. No wonder the
brilliant writer Chateaubriand objected to the erection here of these
fountains, observing that all the water in the world could not remove
the blood stains which sullied the spot.
How beautiful the vista up the broad and short Rue Royale, which conducts
to the classic Madeleine! Alfonso was entranced with the beauty of this
rare temple, which was begun and finally dedicated as a church, though
Napoleon earnestly hoped to complete it as a temple of glory for his old
soldiers. Its cost was nearly three million dollars. A colonnade of
fifty-two huge fluted Corinthian columns and above them a rich frieze
surround the church.
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