The Arc de Triomphe is a monument in Paris that stands in the centre of
the Place Charles de Gaulle, formerly the Place de l'Étoile, at the western end of the
Champs-Élysées. The arch honours those who fought for France, particularly during the
Napoleonic Wars, and today also includes the tomb of the unknown soldier.
The Arc is the linchpin of the historic axis (L'Axe historique) — a sequence of
monuments and grand thoroughfares on a route which goes from the courtyard of the Louvre Palace
to the outskirts of Paris. 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 and set the
tone for public monuments, with triumphant nationalistic messages, until World War I.
The monument stands over 51 meters (165 ft) in height and is 45 meters wide. It is the second largest
triumphal arch in existence.[1] Its design was inspired by the Roman Arch of Titus; The Arc de
Triomphe is so colossal that three weeks after the Paris victory parade in 1919, marking the end of hostilities in World War I,
Charles Godefroy flew his Nieuport biplane through it, and
was caught in a newsreel.[2]
History
The Arc de Triomphe is one of the most famous monuments in Paris. It was commissioned in 1806 after the victory at
Austerlitz by Emperor Napoleon I 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. The architect Jean Chalgrin died in 1811, and the work was taken over by Huyon. During the
Restoration, construction was halted and would not be completed until the reign of
King Louis-Philippe, in 1833–36. When the architects on site were Goust then
Huyot, under the direction of Héricart de Thury.
There was a pre-Napoleonic (1758) proposal by
Charles Ribart for an elephant-shaped
building on the location of the current arch.
The sculpture representing Peace is now interpreted as commemorating the Peace of 1815 — not the original
intention.
Cast of the head of a figure from François Rude's sculpture "La Marseillaise".
The Astylar design is by Jean Chalgrin (1739–1811), in
the Neoclassical version of ancient Roman
architecture. Major academic sculptors of France are represented in the sculpture of the
Arc de Triomphe: Cortot, Rude,
Étex, 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 Étex) and the most renowned of them all, Departure of the Volunteers of '92 commonly called
La Marseillaise (François 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. Also inscribed, on the shorter sides of the four supporting columns, are the names of the major battles of
the Napoleonic wars. The battles which took place in the period between the departure of Napoleon from Elba and his final defeat at Waterloo are not included.
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 [1], and the French and Allies in 1944 [2] and 1945. Charles de Gaulle survived an attack 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,
it has the first eternal flame lit in Western Europe 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. It was originally decided in
November 12, 1919 to bury the unknown soldier's remains
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 fatherland 1914–1918").
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy of the United States paid their respects at the Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier, accompanied by French President Charles de Gaulle. After the 1963
assassination of President Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, Mrs. Kennedy remembered the eternal
flame at the Arc de Triomphe and requested that an eternal flame be placed next to her husband's grave at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. President de Gaulle went to Washington to attend
the state funeral, and he was able to witness Jacqueline Kennedy lighting the eternal flame that was inspired by her visit to
France.
By the early 1960s the monument had grown very blackened from coal soot and during 1965–1966 the Arc de Triomphe was
thoroughly cleaned through sandblasting. By 2007 some darkening was again apparent.
Miscellaneous
In Popular Culture
- In Armageddon, the arch is severely damaged when a huge
meteor slams into Paris. In comparison to the rest of Paris, it is still largely intact.
- In Forget Paris, Debra Winger's character
takes a picture of the Arc with Billy Crystal's character on the top.
- In French Kiss, Meg Ryan's character is
seen making a phonecall with the Arc in the background.
- In Rugrats in Paris: The Movie, the babies inside the giant
Reptar invention move fast under the arch.
- In Team America: World Police, the Arch is destroyed by Joe when
he fires a missile at one of the terrorists escaping with the WMD. The missile misses the terrorist and hits the Eiffel Tower which falls and destroys the Arch.
- In the Godzilla film Destroy All
Monsters it is destroyed by Gorosaurus.
- The Arc appears in the videogames: Onimusha 3, Midnight Club II, Gran Turismo 4,
Midtown Madness 3 and in a Project
Gotham Racing 2 download pack.
- Arc de Triomphe was a pit-stop in the Amazing Race.
- The Arc is also featured in Red Alert 2.
- It is a pickuppable item in We Love Katamari.
- In Final Fantasy VIII, there is an arc similar to the Arc de Triomphe in Deling City.
Notes
- ^ North Korea built a slightly larger Arch of Triumph in 1982 for the 70th birthday of Kim Il-Sung.
- ^ Melville Wallace, La vie d'un Pilote de Chasse en 1914–1918, 1978;
the film clip is included in The History Channel's Four Years of Thunder.
- ^ "World Cup fans extinguish Paris flame honoring war dead", CNN, 1998-07-01. Retrieved on
2007-03-29.
External links
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Coordinates:
48.8738° N 2.2950°
E
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