Have you ever wondered why the area in front of the Musée du Louvre and the smaller Arc is called Carrousel? Well, here I am to fill you in on that fun little Paris fact.
360 years ago on June 5, 1662 Louis XIV held a giant party after he heard the news that his wife, Maria Theresa was with child. The future dauphin, Louis would be born in November, but we are getting ahead of ourselves.
Louis XIV was not shy about throwing grand fetes, many of which would be at Versailles, but this party would take place in the Tuileries. Multiple groups of riders, dressed head to toe in velvet, feathers and silk mounted their horses and chased each other performing drills and looping there lances in hoops and tossing balls from one to another.
This was at the time called a Carrousel, and from that day forward it was called Place de Carrousel. IN 1682, the Sun King would pack up the palace and take his court to Versailles leaving the Palais du Louvre behind, never to return.
The merry-go-round as we know it today is based on the carrousel of the 17th century. Originally it was for adults and over time it changed into a ride for children. Today you can find the original Paris carrousel in the Jardin du Luxembourg, designed by Charles Garnier of the Opera house fame. Sadly it doesn’t have the same golden grandeur of the opera but historic none the less.
Napoleon would keep the name in 1806 when he ordered the Arc de Triomphe Carrousel built to commemorate his recent victories. There was a short period when it was also the site of a guillotine during the Terror, but its best to think of fancy horses prancing around. Sadly, the Dauphin would die before his father and never take the throne. However, we still have the memory of that day left sitting on the Grand Axis of Paris.