PARIS (NEXSTAR) – The Place de la Concorde is one of the most symbolic sights of the city.
It was created as a public square of hundreds and hundreds of years ago and traditionally has been a point of gathering of people coming together.
Russell Williams, an associate professor at the American University of Paris, said it, “links the opulent west of this city with the more functional kind of day-to-day things that take place in the center.”
It was also the place where the guillotine sat.
“French nobility were having their heads chopped off and crowds were able to come and watch and cheer and applaud and get very excited,” Williams said.
“Now, in Paris, we don’t today cut the heads of politicians that we don’t like very much. The one thing that the French people like to do,” Williams continued, “is protesting and the Place de la Concorde is still, in the 21st century, one of the places that people will come and gather and make a lot of noise.”
This summer, it will serve a new purpose: hosting competitions like breaking, BMX freestyle, skateboarding and 3-on-3 basketball.
“That’s what makes the center of Paris such an interesting choice as a venue for the Olympics,” Williams said. “People associate Paris with beautiful 17, 18, 19th century architecture. They associate it with Marie Antoinette. They associate it with, you know, with the kind of museum culture in many ways.”
And now, they will associate it with the spirit of sport.
