In the middle of the Place Charles de Gaulle stands one of the greatest arches in history: the Arc de Triomphe. Like most things in Paris, the arch, France's symbol of patriotism, has a past. It was commissioned by Napoleon as a tribute to the French army but he was ousted before the arch was completed.
The construction had been stopped between 1814 and 1826. In fact, it wasn't completed until 1836 during the reign of Louis-Philippe. The Arc de Triomphe costed 9.3 milions French francs, a gigantic amount of money at that time.
The design of the arch by Jean Chalgrin is based on the Arch of Titus in Rome. The Arc de Triomphe is much higher, but it has exactly the same proportions. 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 name of Blouet, who had the honor of completing the monument, is engraved on it too.
The inscription reads: "This monument which was begun in 1806 to honour the great army, was left unfinished for many years, was continued in 1823 with a new purpose, and was completed in 1836 in the reign of King Louis-Philippe I who dedicated it to the glory of France's armed forces. G. A. Blouet, architect".
The triumphal arch is adorned with many reliefs, most of them commemorating the emperor's battles. Among them are the battle of Aboukir, Napoleons victory over the Turkish and the Battle of Austerliz, where Napoleon defeated the Austrians. Major academic sculptors of France are represented in the sculpture of the Arc de Triomphe: Jean-Pierre Cortot, François Rude, Antoine Étex, James Pradier and Philippe Joseph Henri Lemaire.
The best known relief is the Departure of the Volunteers in 1792, also known as the Marseillaise. At 51 m high by 45 m wide, it's the second-largest triumphal arch standing today and was the largest until 1982 when North Korea deliberately built one a little bit larger. The Arc is so huge that aviator Charles Godefroy was able to fly his Nieuport biplane through it at the 1919 Paris Victory Parade to mark the end of the First World War.
The top of the arch features a viewing platform from where you have great views of La Defense, the Champs-Elysées and the Sacré-Coeur. Although the Arc is meant to celebrate France's victories, it has seen a couple of horrible defeats as well. Germans marched under the arch in 1871 during the Franco-Prussian War and Nazis did the same during the German occupation of Paris in WWIII.
Photo source: wikipedia.org
April 10, 2013
I. C.
