L'Arc de Triomphe
The Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile is one of the most famous monuments in Paris. It stands in the centre of the Place Charles de Gaulle (originally named Place de l'Étoile), at the western end of the Champs-Élysées. The Arc de Triomphe honours those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars, with the names of all French victories and generals inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces. Beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I.
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L'Arc de Triomphe
The Arc de Triomphe is the linchpin of the Axe historique (historic axis) – a sequence of monuments and grand thoroughfares on a route which runs from the courtyard of the Louvre to the Grande Arche de la Défense. The monument was designed by Jean Chalgrin in 1806 and its iconographic program pits heroically nude French youths against bearded Germanic warriors in chain mail. It set the tone for public monuments with triumphant patriotic messages.
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L'Arc de Triomphe
The construction of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris was ordered in 1806 by Napoleon, the French Emperor.Napoleon wanted to honor the Grande Armee, the name of the French army at that time.The Grande Armee had conquered most of Europe and was then considered invicible. After his Austerlitz victory in 1805, Napoleon said to his soldiers : "You will return home through archs of triumph.The construction had been stopped between 1814 (abdication of Napoleon) and 1826.The names of 128 battles of the first French Republic and Napoleon's Empire are written on the white walls under the vault together with the names of the generals who took part in them.The construction of Arc de Triomphe was completed in 1836, long after Napoleon's death in 1821.The Arc de Triomphe costed 9.3 millions French francs, a gigantic amount of money at that time.
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Detail: L'Arc de Triomphe-A list of French victories
A list of French victories is engraved under the great arches on the inside façades of the monument
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Detail: L'Arc de Triomphe
The Arc has four main sculptural groups on each of its pillars. Picutred here is Le Départ de 1792 (or La Marseillaise), by François Rude. The sculptural group celebrates the cause of the French First Republic during the 10 August uprising. Above the volunteers is the winged personification of Liberty. This group served as a recruitment tool in the early months of World War I and encouraged the French to invest in war loans in 1915–16.
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Tom and Georgia at L'Arc de Triomphe
The Arc is located on the right bank of the Seine at the centre of a dodecagonal configuration of twelve radiating avenues. It was commissioned in 1806 after the victory at Austerlitz by Emperor Napoleon at the peak of his fortunes. Laying the foundations alone took two years and, in 1810, when Napoleon entered Paris from the west with his bride Archduchess Marie-Louise of Austria, he had a wooden mock-up of the completed arch constructed.
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Tom at L'Arc de Triomphe |
Georgia at L'Arc de Triomphe |
Underground walkway-L'Arc de Triomphe |
Champs-Élysées |
L'Arc de Triomphe |
L'Arc de Triomphe-Plaque commemorating the return to France of Alsace Lorraine after WW I
The date that France regained sovereignty over Alsace-Lorraine, a region that France lost to Germany following the German victory Franco-Prussian War of 1870.
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French patriots at L'Arc de Triomphe |
Detail-L'Arc de Triomphe |
Detail-L'Arc de Triomphe-The French Imperial Eagle of the Napolianic Wars |
