The Place de la Concorde, located at the beginning of the Avenue des Champs Elysées, is the largest square in Paris. Built in 1772 by the architect Jacques-Ange Gabriel, at the request of King Louis XV who wanted to put an equestrian statue of him, it was named after the king. This monolithic 23 meters high and 3 300 years old, made of pink granite and covered with hieroglyphs, is crowned with a gold-plated pyramidion. It also serves as a gnomon to a solar quadrant drawn on the floor with metal inlays.