The Bois de Boulogne, a former royal
hunting park, was opened to the public
by Louis XIV and given to the city in 1851.
Radial allées and rond-points typical of
French formalism inscribed the dense
woodlands. Prior to the French Revolution,
it was a fashionable location for
the social promenade. Napoleon III was
impressed by London’s public parks and
had Haussmann redesign the Bois de