About This Location
Take a slow look down this long green strip of parkland. Champ de Mars is designed like a grand outdoor corridor - the Eiffel Tower at one end, and the École Militaire at the other. It looks like a peaceful lawn today, but it began as a military parade ground linked to the École Militaire, built for drills and display. Now imagine the scene in 1889. This entire area became one of the main sites of the Exposition Universelle, and the Eiffel Tower rose here as the bold centerpiece of the fair. The park that feels perfect for a picnic was once packed with pavilions, crowds, noise, and the excitement of new technology. Champ de Mars still plays that role of “big city stage.” On major national celebrations, the space around the tower often turns into an enormous gathering place - music, lights, and the feeling that all of Paris is facing the same direction. For something more intimate, listen to the soundscape instead: footsteps on gravel, distant traffic, the low hum of visitors, and the wind moving through the trees. From here, the Eiffel Tower’s ironwork changes every few steps - sometimes it feels like lace, sometimes like a fortress of metal. This is one of the best places to notice that shift, simply by walking and looking up.