Arc de Triomphe

The Arc de Triomphe is one of the most famous monuments in Paris. It is located on the right bank of the Seine River. It forms the backdrop for an impressive urban ensemble in Paris. The monument surmounts the hill of Chaillot at the center of a pentagon-shaped configuration of radiating avenues. It was commissioned in 1806 after the victory at Austerlitz by Emperor Napoleon 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 Jean-Nicolas Huyot. During the Bourbon Restoration, construction was halted and it 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. Napoleon's body passed under it on 15 December 1840 on its way to its second and final resting place at the Invalides.[6] The body of Victor Hugo was exposed under the Arch during the night of the 22 May 1885, prior to burial in the Panthéon.

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[citation needed].

On August 7, 1919, Charles Godefroy successfully flew his biplane under the Arch [7] . Jean Navarre was the pilot who was tasked to make the flight, but he died on July 10 the same year when he crashed near Villacoublay while training for the flight.

Following its construction, the Arc de Triomphe became the rallying point of French troops parading after successful military campaigns and for the annual Bastille Day Military Parade. Famous victory marches around or under the Arc have included the Germans in 1871, the French in 1919, the Germans in 1940,[8] and the French and Allies in 1944[9] and 1945. A United States postage stamp from 1945 shows the Arc in the background as victorious American troops march down the Champs-Élysées and U.S. airplanes fly overhead.

Charles Godefroy – The flight through the Arc de Triomphe

By the early 1960s, the monument had grown very blackened from coal soot and automobile exhaust, and during 1965–1966, it was thoroughly cleaned through bleaching. By 2007, some darkening was again apparent. The arc is planned to be bleached again in 2011.[citation needed]

In the prolongation of the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, a new Arch was built in 1982, completing the line of monuments that forms the Axe historique running through Paris. With the Arc de triomphe du Carrousel and the Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile, the Arc de la défense is the third Arch built on the same perspective.