Arc de triomphe de l'Etoile description and photos - France: Paris (Topic)

Arc de triomphe de l'Etoile description and photos - France: Paris. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The title in English is Arc de triomphe de l'Etoile.

Photo and description

The Arc de Triomphe rises on the Place Charles de Gaulle (formerly it was called the Place of the Stars). The monument is located exactly on a straight line connecting two other famous arches of Paris - on the Place de la Carousel near the Louvre and the Grand Arch of the La Defense district.

The initiative to create the Arc de Triomphe in honor of the victories of the Grand Army belongs to Napoleon. He ordered to build the arch immediately after the victory at Austerlitz (1806). The huge structure (height - almost 50 meters, width - 45) was built slowly. In 1811, the architect Chalgren died, and Napoleon himself did not live to see the end of construction. The work was completed only in 1836 under the Emperor Louis Philippe.

The construction was extremely impressive. The arch is decorated with four sculptural groups, symbolizing the outstanding deeds of France. On special boards the names of 128 battles that brought victory to the republican and imperial armies are listed. The names of 558 prominent French generals are listed here. The arch is surrounded by hundreds of granite pedestals connected by cast-iron chains - according to the number of the heroic "hundred days" of Napoleon. Inside there is a museum dedicated to the history of the construction of the arch.

In December 1840, a funeral cortege with the ashes of Napoleon Bonaparte, brought from the island of St. Helena, solemnly moved under its arches. In the following decades, the state funeral ceremony with a stop under the arches of the Arc de Triomphe was awarded to Victor Hugo, Lazar Carnot, Marshals Foch and Joffre, heroes of the Liberation General Leclerc and Marshal de Lattre de Tassigny.

Since 1921, under the arches of the arch burns Memorial fire at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, killed in the First World War. The Paris Memorial Flame became the first eternal flame in Western Europe since the moment when the Roman Emperor Theodosius extinguished the fire of Vesta in 394.

The facade of the Arc de Triomphe overlooks the Champs Elysees. On Bastille Day, July 14, an impressive military parade takes place on the Champs Elysees - armored units pass against the background of the arch, combat aircraft fly over it, the contrails of which are painted in the colors of the French flag.

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Topic: Arc de triomphe de l'Etoile description and photos - France: Paris.