Famous throughout the world, the Avenue des Champs-Elysées (Champs-Elysées avenue) follows the historical axis of the west of the city of Paris for 1,910 metres. It consists of a 30-metre wide roadway with four lanes and two pavements of 20 metres each. The avenue runs east-west from the Place de la Concorde to the Place Charles-de-Gaulle, at the centre of which stands the Arc de Triomphe. Its straight line – unchanged since 1724 – offers a long perspective drawn in 1640 by the planting of trees in a row. Its name, taken from Greek mythology, evokes the place of the Underworld for virtuous souls, the equivalent of paradise described by Christianity.