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Turn left onto Avenue de la Bourdonnais and where
this avenue meets Avenue Rapp you will be
able to see the remarkable Art Nouveau
apartment building at No. 29. This is
one of the most famous examples of
Art Nouveau in the city. Designed by
Jules Lavirotte, it won first prize at
the Concours des Facades de la Ville
de Paris in 1901. Its ceramic tiles
and brickwork are decorated with
numerous undulating animal and
flower motifs that intermingle with
sultry female figures. Deliberately
erotic, these were considered quite
subversive in their day. Also worth
a visit is another Lavirotte building
that sits on nearby Square Rapp,
which sports a watchtower.
No. 29 Avenue Rapp
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These gardens stretch from the Eiffel Tower to the Ecole Militaire and were originally a parade ground for the cadets at the military academy. This vast formal park is a sort of melange of French and English garden design – the central part with its regularly gridded beds and paths is French, and the sides are laid out in the more undulating English style. It forms part of one of the most striking and famous perspectives in the city: the axis from the Ecole Militaire to the Eiffel Tower and the Palais de Chaillot on the other side of the river. It started out as a military parade ground, hence its name, the Field of Mars, and was reduced to its present size of 24 hectares (60 acres) in 1928. The area is a popular place to celebrate Bastille Day, with the first such celebration being held here in 1790. One of its spectators was the former King Louis XVI, known as Citizen Capet, there as a sort of guest of dishonour. The Champ-de-Mars has also been used for horse-racing, balloon ascents and World Expositions, including the famous one in 1889 which saw the erection of the Eiffel Tower.
12
Designed by architect Jacques-Ange Gabriel, this is a simple essay in stark, symmetrical Neoclassicism, although the interior is in a more lavish Louis XVI style. The central pavilion of this royal military academy, which was founded by Louis XV in 1751 to educate the sons of impoverished officers, features eight Corinthian pillars under a quadrangular dome. The chapel is particularly
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