Date

Circa 1910

The Champ de Mars is a large public greenspace in Paris, located in the seventh arrondissement, between the Eiffel Tower to the northwest and the École Militaire to the southeast. The park is named after the Campus Martius ("Mars Field") in Rome, a tribute to the Roman god of war. The name also alludes to the fact that the lawns here were formerly used as drilling and marching grounds by the French military. The choice to build an esplanade to the north of the École Militaire led to the erection of the noble facade which today encloses the Champ de Mars. The planners leveled the ground, surrounded it with a large ditch and a long avenue of elms, and, as a final touch, the esplanade was enclosed by a fine grille-work fence. Many of the events of the Revolution took place here. The Champ de Mars was the site of Expositions Universelles in 1867, 1878 and 1889, the only remaining structure from the fairs being the Eiffel Tower.