The Arc de Triomphe is a monument in Paris that stands in the centre of the
Place de l'Étoile, at the western end of the Champs-Élysées. It is the linch-pin of the historic axis (L'Axe historique) leading from the courtyard of the Louvre Palace, a sequence of monuments and grand thoroughfares on a route leading out of Paris. Its
iconographic program pitted heroically nude French youths against bearded Germanic warriors in chain-mail and set the tone for
public monuments with triumphant nationalistic messages until World War I.
The monument stands over 50 metres (165 feet) in height and is 45 metres wide. It is
the second largest triumphal arch in existence (North Korea built a slightly larger Arch of Triumph in 1982 for the 70th birthday of
Kim Il-Sung); the Arc de Triomphe is so colossal that an early dare-devil
flew his plane through it.
It was commissioned in 1806 after the victory at Austerlitz by Napoleon
Bonaparte at the peak of his fortunes and finally completed— after a long pause during the Restauration— in the reign of King Louis-Philippe, in 1833 - 36. The sculpture
representing Peace was now interpreted as commemorating the Peace of 1815— not the original intention.
The astylar design is by Jean
Chalgrin (1739-1811), in the Neoclassical version of ancient Roman architecture. Major academic sculptors of France are repesented in the sculpture of the Arc de Triomphe: Cortot, Rude, Etex, Pradier and 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 appliqués on Empire furniture. The four sculptural groups at the base of the Arc are The Triumph of
1810 (Jean-Pierre Cortot), Resistance and Peace (both by Antoine Etex) and the most renowned of them all, Departure of the Volunteers of '92 commonly called
La Marseillaise (Francois Rude). The face of the allegorical representation of France calling forth her people on this last
was used as the belt buckle for the seven-star rank of Marshal of France.
In the attic above the richly sculptured frieze of soldiers are 30 shields engraved
with the names of major Revolutionary and
Napoleonic military victories. The inside walls of the monument list
the names of 558 French generals. The names of those who died in battle are underlined (illustration, right).
The Place de l'Étoile was extensively redesigned by Baron
Haussmann, who increased the number of avenues radiating from this star to twelve. In the 1860s he ran a circular road
(rue de Tilsitt-Presbourg) round the outside of the houses fronting the Étoile, a planning feature intended to free
the Place itself from the crush of carriages that might be expected where so many stylish tenants lived so closely together.
Haussmann imposed a uniform design on the house fronts with small gardens at the back giving on to this circular road.
Haussmann's memoirs publicly noted that the official façade design, from Hittorff in his own office, was so poor that he had to
mask the fronts with trees. But the uniformity complements the Arc's monumental presence. The traffic problem was not resolved,
however.
The sword carried by the Republic in the Marseillaise relief broke off, on the day, it is said, that the
Battle of Verdun began in 1916. The relief was immediately hidden
by tarpaulins to conceal the accident and avoid any undesired ominous interpretations. Famous victory marches past the Arc
included the Germans in 1871, the French in 1918, the
Germans in 1940, and the French and Allies in 1944
and 1945. Charles de Gaulle
survived an atttack upon him at the Arc during a parade.
Beneath the Arc is the Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier from the First World War, interred here on Armistice Day 1920, has the first eternal flame lit since the Vestal Virgins' fire was
extinguished in the year 391. It burns in memory of the dead who were never identified, now in both World Wars. France took the
example of the United Kingdom's tomb of The Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey. A ceremony is held there every November 11 on the anniversary of the armistice signed between
France and Germany in 1918. The unknown soldier's remains were originally decided in
November 12, 1919 to be buried in the
Panthéon, but a public letter-writing campaign led to the
decision to bury him beneath the Arc. The coffin was put in the chapel on the first floor of the Arc on November 10, 1920, and put in its final resting
place on January 28, 1921. The slab on
top carries the inscription ICI REPOSE UN SOLDAT FRANÇAIS MORT POUR LA PATRIE 1914-1918 ("Here lies a French
soldier who died for his country 1914-1918").
The Tour de France race culminates here every year.
Pedestrian access to the Arc de Triomphe is via an underpass. Metro
access: Charles-de-Gaulle-Étoile. From the top there is an excellent view of all of Paris,
of the thirteen major avenues leading to the Arc and of the exceptionally busy roundabout in which the Arc lies.
The Arc de Triomphe is seen in the teaser trailer of Steven
Spielberg's War of the Worlds. The Arch is destroyed by the
Eiffel Tower in Team America: World Police. In Rugrats in Paris: The Movie, the babies inside the
giant Reptar invention move fast under
the arch.
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