Paris, France
ASTER VNIR image Level 1B RGB=321
2001/5/23

This is image of the central district of Paris, France on May 23rd'01. There is a stream of Seine River in the center of image, several roads radiate from Arch of Triumph to west side. From Arch of Triumph to southwest, there follows Champs Elysees Street, Place de la Concorde, and Louvre Museum.

The Champs Elysees Street, extended from Arch of Triumph were originally nothing but fields until Marie de Medicis put up a long pathway, "queen's allee" in 1616.Then it became tree -lined, and came to be called Champs Elysees (Elysees Garden) for Eden, which appears in Greek myths, where those whom the Gods love live a happy life after their death.

In the late 18th century, a large arched gateway was built in a grass plot like an arena theater, from where 5 avenues radiated. It was constructed in honor of glorious French army.
Aimed to bring Paris to be a world representative city, Napoleon I (1769-1821) dreamed of filling the city with monuments.
The Etoile Arch of Triumph was designed by a French architect (Jean-Francois-Therese Chalgrin, 1739-1811) and got started construction in 1806 at the direction of Napoleon I.

As there was a halt in construction because of collapse of Napoleon regime, The Etoile Arch of Triumph was finally completed after 30 years since its commencement of work.