01 / Geographic landmark
Place Charles-de-Gaulle / Arc de Triomphe
A monumental landmark at the meeting point of the eighth, sixteenth and seventeenth arrondissements, visible far beyond the square.
02 / The place
Place Charles-de-Gaulle and the Arc de Triomphe form a meeting point between three arrondissements of Les Hautes Terres. Major avenues converge here, movement is constant and the monument attracts attention without requiring any particular event. It is a place people cross rather than withdraw into.
This position gives the site great value as a landmark, but very little privacy. Kindred can use it to read movement between several areas or treat its surroundings as a point of passage. Any extended meeting must contend with visitors, traffic and visible approaches. The monument belongs to the public landscape of Paris. It marks a limit and a direction; it grants no special authority to anyone claiming its name.