Plans to renovate the Champs-Élysées gardens underway

The City plans to restore the 20-hectare garden along the Champs-Elysées.

Rough and sometimes muddy sidewalks, seemingly forgotten green spaces… tourists are the first to say that the Champs-Élysées gardens are a poor reflection on “the most beautiful avenue in the world”.

An ambitious project

After it was announced that more “urban forests” – or the addition of plants, trees, and small gardens near major Paris monuments – will be created in the capital, Jeanne d’Hauteserre, Mayor of the 8th arrondissement, submitted her renovation proposal for the 20-hectare Champs-Elysées gardens at the Conseil de Paris.

“The Champs-Élysées welcomes more than 100 million visitors per year, 40% of which are foreigners. If the avenue wants to preserve its international appeal, we need to rethink these gardens, which are an integral part of the history of this emblematic thoroughfare. They could be more ambitiously redeveloped, so that Parisians and visitors can fully enjoy them,” argues the right-wing elected official. 

D’Hautessere has asked the City of Paris to launch a landscape study on these gardens, which extend from the Rond-Point des Champs-Élysées to Place de la Concorde.

Past and future renovations

Pénélope Komitès, Deputy Mayor in charge of green spaces, points out that, since the beginning of Hidalgo’s mandate, the City has already carried out some work to develop and beautify the gardens and its structures (the music kiosque at the Fontaine des Dauphins, seating areas, and playgrounds).

“We are going to renovate the former Haussmannian flower market known as the Vacherie anglaise,” adds the elected official, before announcing that the mayor of Paris had decided, following a recent visit to the Champs-Élysées gardens, “to start outlining a plan that will take into consideration the site’s preservation and landscape structure.”

Koons’ tulips expected

In the meantime, the gardens between the Musée du Petit-Palais and Concorde will soon host Jeff Koons’ tulip bouquet, a 10 m high, 8 m wide sculpture of multicolored flowers, given to the City of Paris by the American artist in commemoration of the 2015 terrorist attacks.

Source: Paris : les jardins des Champs-Élysées bientôt rénovés

Cover Photo: flickr, Sylvain Leprovost, Jardins des Champs-Elysées (CC BY 2.0)