Arc de Triomphe

A monumental arch at Paris’s Place Charles de Gaulle commemorating French military victories and those who fought and died for France, especially in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

Place Charles de Gaulle: A large circular plaza in Paris where twelve avenues converge around the Arc de Triomphe. The arch occupies the plaza’s center, whose radiating avenues shape its urban setting.
Napoleon I: French military and political leader who became emperor in 1804 and ruled until 1814–1815. He commissioned the arch after his victory at Austerlitz.
Names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe: The names of French generals and battles carved on the Arc de Triomphe. These inscriptions make military campaigns and commanders part of the monument’s surface.
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (France): France’s national war memorial beneath the Arc de Triomphe, dedicated to an unidentified First World War soldier. The tomb shifts remembrance from named victories to the losses of anonymous servicemen.
Neoclassical architecture: An architectural style drawing on the forms and principles of ancient Greek and Roman buildings. The arch’s monumental proportions and classical vocabulary belong to this style.
Battle of Austerlitz: A decisive 1805 battle in which Napoleon’s forces defeated the armies of Austria and Russia. Napoleon ordered the arch in celebration of this victory.
French Unknown Soldier: An unidentified French serviceman buried beneath the Arc de Triomphe in 1921. His tomb added the sacrifices of ordinary soldiers to the arch’s commemorative role.
Armistice Day: An annual observance marking the 1918 armistice that ended fighting on the Western Front. The arch hosts France’s principal national ceremony commemorating the armistice.
Étoile triumphal arch: A triumphal arch designed by Jean-François-Thérèse Chalgrin and built in Paris between 1806 and 1836. This is the monument’s formal architectural type and original design.
Jean Chalgrin: French neoclassical architect who designed the Arc de Triomphe. His design established the monument’s scale and architectural form.

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