The Place de la Concorde was built between 1755 and 1775. Ange-Jacques Gabriel (1698-1782) won the architectural competition with a project based on an octagon delimited by a moat surrounded by balustrades. The 3300-year-old pink granite obelisk erected in the middle of the square was presented to France in 1831 by Muhammad Ali, Viceroy and Pasha of Egypt. The 230-tonne, 23-metre-high monument originally stood in the Temple of Thebes (Luxor). It arrived in Paris during the reign of Louis-Philippe, after a four-year journey. The obelisk is covered in hieroglyphics. The plinth describes the technical means used to transport it and erect it on the square.
