8e Arrt.AVENUE
des
CHAMPS-ÉLYSÉES
Arrondissement VIIIe
Quarter Champs-Élysées. Faubourg du Roule.
Begins Place de la Concorde
Ends Place Charles de Gaulle
Length 1910 m
Width 70 m
Creation 1670
Denomination 2 March 1864
The Champs-Élysées as seen from the Arc de Triomphe
The Avenue des Champs-Élysées (French pronunciation: ( listen)) is a prestigious avenue in Paris, France. With its cinemas, cafés, luxury specialty shops and clipped horse-chestnut trees, the Avenue des Champs-Élysées is one of the most famous streets in the world, and with rents as high as €1.1 million (USD1.5 million) annually per 1,100 square feet (92.9 square metres) of space, it remains the second most expensive strip of real estate in Europe, having recently (as of 2010) been overtaken by London's Bond Street. The name is French for Elysian Fields, the place of the blessed dead in Greek mythology.
The Avenue des Champs-Élysées is known in France as La plus belle avenue du monde ("The most beautiful avenue of the world") The arrival of global chain stores in recent years has strikingly changed its character, and in a first effort to stem these changes, the City of Paris (which has called this trend "banalisation") decided in 2007 to ban the Swedish clothing chain H&M from opening a store on the avenue. In 2008, however, American clothing chain Abercrombie & Fitch was given permission to open a store.
The avenue runs for 2 kilometers (1.25 miles) through the 8th arrondissement in northwestern Paris, from the Place de la Concorde in the east, with the Obelisk of Luxor, to the Place Charles de Gaulle (formerly the Place de l'Étoile) in the west, location of the Arc de Triomphe. The Champs-Élysées forms part of the Axe historique.
One of the principal tourist destinations in Paris, the lower part of the Champs-Élysées is bordered by greenery (Carré Marigny) and by buildings such as the Théâtre Marigny and the Grand Palais (containing the Palais de la Découverte). The Élysée Palace is slightly to the north, but not on the avenue itself. Further to the west, the avenue is lined with cinemas, cafés and restaurants (most notably Fouquet's), and luxury specialty shops. The Champs-Élysées ends at the Arc de Triomphe, built by Napoleon Bonaparte to honour his victories
