Home>>Europe Map>>France Photos>>Paris Map>>Arc de Triomphe

Triumphal Arch


Arc de Triomphe

Arc de Triomphe

The Arc de Triomphe is the linchpin of the historic axis (Axe historique)-a sequence of monuments and grand thoroughfares on a route which goes from the courtyard of the Louvre, to the Grande Arche de la Defense. The monument was designed by Jean Chalgrin in 1806, and its iconographic program pitted heroically nude French youths against bearded Germanic warriors in chain mail. It set the tone for public monuments, with triumphant patriotic messages.


Tip:The Pegman can be dragged to the map for Street View

The astylar design is by Jean Chalgrin (1739-1811), in the Neoclassical version of ancient Roman architecture (see, for example, the triumphal Arch of Titus). Major academic sculptors of France are represented in the sculpture of the Arc de Triomphe: Jean-Pierre Cortot; Franoois Rude; Antoine Etex; James Pradier and Philippe Joseph Henri Lemaire. The main sculptures are not integral friezes but are treated as independent trophies applied to the vast ashlar masonry masses, not unlike the gilt-bronze appliques on Empire furniture. The four sculptural groups at the base of the Arc are The Triumph of 1810 (Cortot), Resistance and Peace (both by Antoine Etex) and the most renowned of them all, Departure of the Volunteers of 1792 commonly called La Marseillaise. The face of the allegorical representation of France calling forth her people on this last was used as the belt buckle for the honorary rank of Marshal of France. Since the fall of Napoleon (1815), the sculpture representing Peace is interpreted as commemorating the Peace of 1815.

In the attic above the richly sculptured frieze of soldiers are 30 shields engraved with the names of major Revolutionary and Napoleonic military victories.[11] The inside walls of the monument list the names of 660 people, among which are 558 French generals of the First French Empire;[12] the names of those who died in battle are underlined. Also inscribed, on the shorter sides of the four supporting columns, are the names of the major victorious battles of the Napoleonic Wars. The battles that took place in the period between the departure of Napoleon from Elba to his final defeat at Waterloo are not included. There was at the top of the Arc from 1882 to 1886, a monumental sculpture of Alexandre Falguiere, "Le triomphe de la Revolution" (the Triumph of the Revolution), a chariot drawn by horses preparing "to crush Anarchy and Despotism", that remained only four years up there before falling in ruins. Inside the monument, a new permanent exhibition conceived by the artist Maurice Benayoun and the architect Christophe Girault opened in February 2007. The steel and new media installation interrogates the symbolism of the national monument, questioning the balance of its symbolic message during the last two centuries, oscillating between war and peace.


Arc de Triomphe

Arc de Triomphe

Beneath the Arc is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from the First World War. Interred here on Armistice Day 1920,it has the first eternal flame lit in Western and Eastern Europe since the Vestal Virgins' fire was extinguished in the fourth century. It burns in memory of the dead who were never identified (now in both World Wars). A ceremony is held there every 11 November on the anniversary of the armistice signed between France and Germany in 1918. It was originally decided on 12 November 1919 to bury the unknown soldier's remains in the Pantheon, but a public letter-writing campaign led to the decision to bury him beneath the Arc de Triomphe. The coffin was put in the chapel on the first floor of the Arc on 10 November 1920, and put in its final resting place on 28 January 1921. The slab on top carries the inscription ICI REPOSE UN SOLDAT FRANCAIS MORT POUR LA PATRIE 1914-1918 ("Here lies a French soldier who died for the fatherland 1914-1918").


One of the most popular sights in Paris is the gleaming white Arc de Triomphe. This famous monument is much larger than many realize; in 1919, a biplane flew through it. The Arc lies at a convergence of many of the major avenues of Paris. It was commissioned by Napoleon to commemorate those who have fought for France. There are four relief sculptures, one on each "leg" of the Arc, that celebrate France's military. Underneath the Arc is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, laid after World War 1. There is a museum inside, as well as a magnificent view of Paris from the roof.