Place de la République

This guide to the Place de la Republique in Paris opens on July 14, 1883, when the city unveiled a nine-meter bronze Marianne, olive branch raised, after Parisians had waited three years since a plaster rehearsal version first went up. For a century traffic circled her, until 2013 brought a major renovation that tore out car lanes and more than doubled the square's pedestrian space. Look for the twelve bronze reliefs around the pedestal, each tracing a moment of French republican history, from the Tennis Court Oath to the storming of the Bastille.