Flame of Remembrance

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This is the Flame of Remembrance (Flamme de la mémoire, prounounced /flam də la memwaʁ/) that burns at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier beneath the Arc de Triomphe. Unlike an “eternal” flame, this flame is rekindled each day in a brief ceremony at 6:30 PM. At one time, you could walk right up to the flame, but after some drunken Italian tourists urinated on it and extinguished it, the authorities put a rope around the tomb. The bouquets of flowers, offered by various veterans’ organizations for the most part, are fresh and regularly replenished with new flowers by these organizations.

Photographed on November 15, 1999.