What do we call the “squares” of the Champs-Élysées gardens?

Often neglected in favor of the shops that line the avenue, the gardens of the Champs-Élysées are nevertheless full of surprises, scattered here and there in their famous “squares”.

Formerly marshy, the bottom of the Champs-Élysées was converted into gardens in the mid-19th century, just before Haussmann’s major transformations. They were designed in the English style by the architect Adolphe Alphand to whom we owe many Parisian parks and squares (Monceau, Montsouris, les Buttes-Chaumont …) and inaugurated in 1840.

These splendid green spaces are divided into several more or less rectangular parts called “squares” and in which we find some architectural treasures:

the Ambassadors Square with its famous Espace Cardin (composed of a theater, a cinema and a gallery);

the Elysée square which houses the beautiful Pavillon Gabriel dedicated to receptions and conferences as well as the Lenôtre restaurant;

the Marigny square where the theater of the same name is located and near which the pretty Paris stamp market is set up every weekend;

the Ledoyen square and its magnificent restaurant (in one of the oldest buildings in the district) run by chef Yannick Alléno;

the Battoir square with the legendary Grand and Petit Palais;

the Rond-Point square where the famous eponymous theater is located.

While strolling in these gardens you will also discover romantic fountains (fountain of the ambassadors, fountain of the circus, fountain of the grill of the cock…) and a charming typically Parisian bandstand.