LA VIVE FRANCE 1789-1989 : The New Year marks the beginning of 12 months of festivals, exhibitions, art shows and musical performances throughout France and in the United States to commemorate the Bicentennial of the French Revolution. Some will highlight historic events, others will honor heroes.

Today, as France begins a yearlong celebration commemorating the Bicentennial of the French Revolution, the eyes of the nation will focus on Place de la Concorde.

It was here, at the foot of the Champs Elysees, that the guillotine marked the end of hundreds of lives. And it is here that millions of people will reflect on that bloody period while visiting Paris during the next 12 months . . . and particularly this famous landmark.

President Francois Mitterrand will speak on television from the capital today, while 98 cities will launch hot-air balloons throughout France.

In a later ceremony, Paris Mayor Jacques Chirac is scheduled to deliver personal greetings to the nation from Place de la Concorde.

Place de la Concorde has been a showplace since its birth in 1755. Originally named Place Louis XV, it was centered by an equestrian statue of that monarch, which stood where the famous Egyptian obelisk towers today. Louis was pulled down by a revolutionary mob in 1792, and the square renamed Place de la Revolution. The name Concorde was adopted in 1795, symbolizing a hoped-for harmony that proved very fragile.

Standing between the two great horses that mark the entrance to the magnificent promenade of the Champs Elysees, one looks today into the 21-acre square and stares down the centuries.

One can visualize Benjamin Franklin, serving as the American minister to France, parking his carriage next to Louis’ statue. It’s Dec. 1, 1783, and a mammoth crowd has gathered to watch as the Montgolfier brothers launch their hot-air balloon, the world’s first.

Now it’s the spring of 1793, and hard by the statue of Brest the guillotine waits, having been moved from the square in front of the Louvre to accommodate throngs expected to view the decapitation of Louis XVI. Later the guillotine would end the lives of 1,343 people, including Marie Antoinette and Robespierre.

Off to the left, in classic restrained splendor, stand the twin creations of architect Jacques Gabriel--the Hotel de la Marine (naval headquarters) and the Crillon Hotel, long the residence of choice by discriminating (and prosperous) world travelers.

Just to the west, across the Rue Boissy d’Anglas, sits the Embassy of the United States, sheltered by gates and greenery, where the tumultuous events of 1789 also are being celebrated. It is worth remembering that within a 30-day period during 1791, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen was approved by the National Assembly in France, and the Bill of Rights was approved by the U.S. Congress.

The New Year marks the beginning of 12 months of festivals, exhibitions, art shows and musical performances staged throughout the country and in the United States to commemorate the birth of a democratic France. Some will highlight Revolutionary events such as the Fall of the Bastille, while others will be devoted to heroes such as the Marquis de Lafayette, whose chateau-birthplace deep in the heart of the Auvergne region at Chavaniac will be open to the public.

In Paris, the spanking new Opera de la Bastille will debut on that celebrated place on July 14 (Bastille Day, France’s equivalent of the Fourth of July) with a performance of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni.” Bastille, not incidentally, is an up-and-coming quarter.

That traditional landmark, the Eiffel Tower (which was built for the 1889 World’s Exposition to commemorate the centenary of the Revolution), will be the scene throughout this year of son-et-lumiere shows, fireworks and exhibitions. Its Jules Verne restaurant (with an unbeatable view) serves worthwhile--if not memorable--cuisine in a setting of high-tech seductiveness; not inexpensive.

Though much of Revolutionary Paris has vanished, it will be remembered all around the town this year. Throughout June, a Festival of Revolutionary Films will be staged at the handsome Hotel de Ville (City Hall). It was there, on Oct. 5, 1789, that housewives unable to find or afford bread rioted and then tramped 14 miles to Versailles to complain to Louis XVI. (Today’s building is a 19th-Century reworking of the original.)

Revolutionary Music

Other major happenings will include a festival of revolutionary music in the Bagatelle Gardens, a Maurice Bejart “Ballet of the Bicentenary” at the Grand Palais, the reconstitution of the Rue des Colonnes to its Revolutionary style, a youth festival celebrating 200 years of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, a grand spectacle in the Bois de Vincennes called “Once Upon a Time in Paris.” Yes, and a major concert at the new Grande Arche de la Defense (at the “top” axis of the Champs Elysees beyond the Arc de Triomphe) to celebrate 200 years of the Declaration of the Rights of Man.

In addition, restoration work goes forth at 10 city sites, including Place des Etats-Unis (United States Square), where George Washington and Lafayette shook hands in a little park just off the Champs Elysees. John Philip Sousa and his band saluted the statues when they were unveiled on July 4, 1900.

Anyone wishing to gain a precise sense of what happened during the Revolution should visit the Carnavalet Museum (Historical Museum of the City of Paris) in the Marais, where a special exhibition describing the events has been arranged.

In June, it will be moved nearby to another classic mansion, Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau. (Both are on the Rue de Sevigne, named for Madame de Sevigne, the renowned and gossipy letter writer who lived in Carnavalet for some years.)

The easiest way to ease into the antique atmosphere is to drink and eat at Cafe Le Procope, on the Left Bank at 13 Rue de l’Ancienne-Comedie. The oldest cafe (as opposed to brasserie) in Paris, having opened in 1670, it was recently restored to its 17th-Century style. Since the great theater, the Comedie-Francaise, used to face it, the Procope’s popularity was assured. You can sip with the ghosts of Franklin, Jefferson, John Paul Jones, Voltaire, Rousseau, Longfellow, Emerson and others.

City Grows Younger

Old as it is, Paris is growing younger. In March, 1982, President Mitterrand announced a period of rebirth with 15 Great Projects in France, 10 of them in Paris. Most famous of these is the 71-foot-high glass-and-steel pyramid created by American architect I. M. Pei that stands within the near-sacred arms of the Louvre and serves as the new entrance.

Paris in 1989 looks forward to the 21st Century without bidding adieu to the ideals of 1789. Tomorrow is in place today at La Defense, which thrusts its glassy, glittering skyline beyond the Arc de Triomphe and the Seine. Its Grande Arche is an open cube wide enough to allow the entire Champs Elysees to run through and tall enough to allow Notre Dame with its spire to stand within.

On the opposite edge of the city, the giant park called La Vilette encompasses La Geode (a cinema-in-the-round with the world’s largest screen), the intriguing Museum of Science and Industry (aswarm with families), the Center of Music, and high-tech and informal cafes.

In perhaps the most elaborate spectacle of the Revolution’s Bicentennial, the procession of the Estates-General will be re-created in Versailles on June 17. It was an event that marked the alliance of the First Estate (nobles), Second Estate (clery) and Third Estate (everybody else) against the king. Hundreds of men, women and children will parade in period costumes, including descendants of the original participants.

Elegantly Restored

The classic Jeu de Paume (the indoor court where a fashionable game resembling tennis was played and where the oath was signed that signaled the end of the Old Regime) has been elegantly restored and is now open to the public, and a Versailles opera festival is planned for July.

All summer, Versailles and its great chateau will offer evenings of entertainment designed to evoke the glorious world of the Sun King, Louis XIV. There will be fireworks, son-et-lumiere productions, floodlighted displays of the grand fountains, and music and poetry readings.

About 80 miles north of Paris near Compiegne, the handsome 17th-Century Chateau de Blerancourt, founded by American financier J. P. Morgan’s daughter Anne as the Museum of French-American Friendship, will present a special exhibition, “Americans and the French Revolution,” July 10-15.

Rouen, in Normandy, will stage “Sails in Liberty” July 9-16, when three- and four-masted tall ships from around the world will sail from the city’s harbor to the Channel port of Le Havre. There will also be sea-oriented exhibitions, contests and film and jazz festivals.

In Normandy, the Caen Memorial opens to mark the 45th anniversary of the D-day landings in World War II (June 6, 1944). Devoted to peace, it’s a touching testimony to many vanished American warriors.

At La Rochelle

Out west, in the pretty Channel port of La Rochelle, the Museum of the New World stages “The Americans and the French Revolution” exposition, and on Bastille Day, more than a thousand musicians and balloonists will celebrate the Festival of Peace.

The Bicentennial crosses the Atlantic and comes to the United States with a series of festivals, traveling exhibitions, musical performances, theater, dance and sports. In Southern California, there will be a Pierre Boulez Festival by the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Royce Hall, UCLA, May 20 to June 4; a Paris-Versailles Marathon in San Diego, and the Meridien Bicycle Race from San Diego to Newport Beach, both in the spring.

As you might expect, special tours of Paris and France are being offered throughout 1989 by a number of tour companies. Some of the best are from Jet Vacations: call toll-free (800) JET-0999.

For more information on travel to France, contact the French Government Tourist Office, 9454 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 303, Beverly Hills 90212, (213) 272-2665.