Place Vendome

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This is the place Vendome /plas vɑ̃dom/, the home of the Ritz Hotel and onetime home of IBM France. The Ritz is the part of the facade of the building in the background just left of center, with rounded awnings at ground level (it does not occupy the entire building—most of the building to the right is part of the Ministry of Justice). This pedestrian and vehicular roundabout is lined by expensive shops, mostly jewelry stores and watchmakers such as Cartier, Fred, a Rolex dealer, and what-not. It has a pleasant look to it, although it is not a major landmark—except for fans of Princess Diana, since she dined at the Ritz just before leaving on her last trip by car. This photo was taken from the southern corner of the plaza, and you are looking north.

The big green column that dominates the place Vendome is a monument that commemorates more of Napoléon’s adventures, namely, an 1805 military campaign that terminated in the battle of Austerlitz. The column is cast from bronze taken from some 1200 cannon seized from the Austrians and Russians.

The place has its own Web site, http://www.place-vendome.net, if you are interested in learning more. Like virtually every French site on the Web, its site depends on a "Flash splash" screen, and so you won't be able to visit it at all unless you turn off some of the security features of your browser (at your own risk!).

Photographed on July 31, 2000.