Arc de Triomphe

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This is the Arc de Triomphe (“Arch of Triumph”, /aʁk də tʁiõf/), a 16-story war monument conceived by Napoléon, designed by architect Jean-François Chalgrin, and built at the top of the avenue des Champs-Élysées. It was constructed between 1810 and 1836 (there were a number of long delays).

It is possible to reach the roof of the monument by climbing nearly three hundred steps, and the view is excellent. I haven't been up there very often, but I do have some nice photos of several Paris streets taken from the top of the arch, including a photo of the avenues leading to La Défense, a photo of the Avenue Foch, and a photo of the ever-popular Champs-Élysées.

The arch is surrounded by a huge vehicular roundabout. Some tourists foolishly try to cross the roundabout in front of hundreds of cars in order to get to the monument. The seasoned habitués of the city know that there is an underground pedestrian walkway on the northern side of the Champs-Élysées that provides safe access to the monument.

This monument, like so many others, is intended to glorify war and those who died waging it. Beneath the arch lies the tombe du soldat inconnu (“tomb of the unknown soldier”), and a flame of remembrance burns above the tomb (it is symbolically rekindled daily at 6:30 PM in a small ceremony). There are regular military ceremonies at this location to commemorate the many and varied massacres that have colored French and world history.

The site on which the monument stands is called the place Charles de Gaulle; it used to be called the place de l’Étoile, because of the multicolored star built into the pavement of the roundabout (look closely at the pavement, and you’ll see the alternating gray and red colors of the star), and it is still referred to casually by this name.

On the lower left in the photograph, you can see the Eiffel Tower, which is 1.7 km away; it looks a bit sunken because it is at a much lower elevation than the Arch.

This photograph was taken from the corner between the avenue Carnot and the avenue Mac Mahon, in late afternoon. The Champs-Élysées is behind the arch and on the left, perpendicular to its long axis.

I have a night shot of the Arch, also, if you are interested.

Click directly on the photo to see a larger version (twice the above size). Photographed on April 10, 1999.