Editing Place de la Concorde (section)

=== Fountains  ===
{{Main|Fontaines de la Concorde}}
<gallery mode="packed" heights="180px">
File:Place de la Concorde fountain dsc00774.jpg|The Fountain of River Commerce and Navigation, one of the two [[Fontaines de la Concorde]] (1840)
File:Fontaine des Fleuves, Paris May 2013.jpg|Base of the Fountain of River Commerce and Navigation   
File:Fontaine des Fleuves.jpg|The Fountain of River Commerce at night
</gallery>
When he had completed the installation of the Luxor Obelisk, in 1836, Jacques-Ignace Hittorff, chief architect of the square, moved ahead with two new fountains to complement the obelisk.  Hittorff had been a student of the [[Neoclassicism|Neoclassical designer]] [[Charles Percier]] at the [[École des Beaux-Arts]]. He had spent two years studying the architecture and fountains of Rome, particularly the [[Piazza Navona]] and [[Piazza San Pietro]], each of which had obelisks aligned with fountains.<ref>Barozzi, Jacques, "Paris de Fontaine en Fontaine" (2010), p. 66</ref>

Hittorff's fountains were each nine meters high, matching the height of the earlier columns and statues around the square representing great French cities. The Maritime Fountain was on the south, between the obelisk and Seine, and illustrated the seas bordering France, while the Fluvial Fountains or river fountain, on the north, between the Obelisk and the Rue Royale, illustrated the great rivers of France. It is located in the same place where the guillotine which executed Louis XVI had been placed.<ref>Barozzi, Jacques, "Paris de Fontaine en Fontaine" (2010), p. 66</ref> 
<gallery mode="packed" heights="180px">
File:Fontaine des Mers, September 24, 2011.jpg|Fountain of the Seas 
File:Fontaine des mers concorde detail.jpg|Base of the Fountain of the Seas
File:Paris Place de la Concorde Fontaine des Mers 09.jpg|Detail of the Fountain of the Seas 
</gallery>
Both fountains had the same form: a stone basin; six figures of [[Triton (mythology)|tritons]] or [[naiad]]s holding fish spouting water; six seated allegorical figures, their feet on the prows of ships, supporting the pedestal, of the circular ''vasque''; four statues of different forms of genius in arts or crafts supporting the upper inverted upper vasque; whose water shot up and then cascaded down to the lower vasque and then the basin.<ref>Beatrice Lamoitier, ''L'essor des fontaines monumentales'', in ''Paris et ses fontaines'', pg. 173.</ref>

The north fountain was devoted to the Rivers, with allegorical figures representing the [[Rhone]] and the [[Rhine]], the arts of the harvesting of flowers and fruits, harvesting and grape growing; and the geniuses of river navigation, industry, and agriculture.

The south fountain, closer to the Seine, represented the seas, with figures representing the Atlantic and the Mediterranean; harvesting coral; harvesting fish; collecting shellfish; collecting pearls; and the geniuses of astronomy, navigation, and commerce.<ref>Beatrice Lamoitier, ''L'essor des fontaines monumentales'', in ''Paris et ses fontaines'', pg. 173.</ref>