The ferriswheele is directly behind me.
In front, Champs-Élysées facing l'Arc de Triomphe.

The center of the Place de la Concorde is occupied by a giant Egyptian obelisk decorated with Hieroglyphics exalting the reign of the pharaoh Ramses II. It is one of three Cleopatra's Needles, the other two residing in New York and London. The obelisk once marked the entrance to the Luxor Temple. The viceroy of Egypt, Mehemet Ali, offered the 3,300-year-old Luxor Obelisk to France in 1831. The obelisk arrived in Paris on December 21, 1833.

Three years later, on October 25, 1836, King Louis-Philippe had it placed in the centre of Place de la Concorde, where a guillotine used to stand during the Revolution.

The red granite column rises 23 metres (75 ft) high, including the base, and weighs over 250 tonnes.

Missing its original cap, believed stolen in the 6th century BC, the government of France added a
gold-leafed pyramid cap to the top of the obelisk in 1998.