Jardins des Champs-Élysées

The Jardins des Champs-Élysées spread out across a massive, flat rectangle of green, defined by the long, straight gravel paths that cut through the manicured lawns. André Le Nôtre originally designed this space in the seventeenth century as an extension of the Tuileries gardens. Before it became a public park, this land was a marshy meadow used by the aristocracy for promenades. King Louis the Sixteenth eventually opened these grounds to the general public, ending the era of private royal access.