Arc de Triomphe adalah salah satu tugu termasyhur di Paris. Ia membentuk latar belakang untuk sebuah impressive urban ensemble di Paris. Tugu mengatasi bukit Chaillot di pusat sebuah star-shaped configuration lebuh radiating. Ia ditugaskan pada 1806 selepas kejayaan di Austerlitz oleh Maharaja Napoleon di puncak kekayaannya. Meletakkan asas-asas sendiri mengambil masa dua tahun, dan pada 1810 apabila Napoleon masuk Paris dari barat dengan pengantinnya Archduchess Marie-Louise dari Austria, dia mengadakan binaan kayu bagi gerbang yang sedang dibinakan. Arkitek Jean Chalgrin meninggal pada 1811, dan kerja ini diambil alih oleh Jean-Nicolas Huyot. Semasa pemulihan Bourbon, pembinaan dihentikan dan ia tidak akan diselesaikan sehingga pemerintahan Raja Louis-Philippe, pada 1833–36 apabila para arkitek di tapak adalah Goust, kemudian Huyot, di bawah under arahan Héricart de Thury. Mayat Napoleon lalu di bawahnya pada 15 Disember 1840 pada laluannya pada tempat pengkebumian kedua dan terakhirnya di Invalides.[4]

Reka bentuk

Sejak kejatuhan Napoleon (1815), ukiran mewakili Keamanan ditakrif sebagai memperingati Perjanjian Paris (1815)|Keamanan 1815]]. Rekabentuk astylar oleh Jean Chalgrin (1739–1811), merupakan versi Neo-klasik rekabentuk Rom silam (lihat, sebagi contoh, Gerbang kemenangan Titus). Akademi pengukir utama diseluruh Perancis diwakili dalam ukiran Arc de Triomphe: Jean-Pierre Cortot; François Rude; Antoine Étex; James Pradier and Philippe Joseph Henri Lemaire. The main sculptures are not integral friezes but are treated as independent trophies applied to the vast ashlar masonry masses, not unlike the gilt-bronze appliqués on Empire furniture. The four sculptural groups at the base of the Arc are The Triumph of 1810 (Cortot), Resistance and Peace (both by Antoine Étex) and the most renowned of them all, Departure of the Volunteers of 1792 commonly called La Marseillaise (François Rude). The face of the allegorical representation of France calling forth her people on this last was used as the belt buckle for the seven-star rank of Marshal of France.

Di bahagian rabung di atas alang yang berukiran tentera terdapat 30 perisai yang terukir dengan nama major Revolutionary and Napoleonic military victories. (The Battle of Fuentes de Onoro is described as a French victory, instead of the tactical draw). The inside walls of the monument list the names of 660 persons, among which 558 French generals of the First French Empire;[5] the names of those who died in battle are underlined. Also inscribed, on the shorter sides of the four supporting columns, are the names of the major victorious battles of the Napoleonic Wars. The battles which took place in the period between the departure of Napoleon from Elba and his final defeat at Waterloo are not included.

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. Famous victory marches past the Arc have included the Germans in 1871, the French in 1918, the Germans in 1940,[6] and the French and Allies in 1944[7] and 1945. Charles de Gaulle survived an attack upon him at the Arc de Triomphe during a paradeTemplat:When?.

Askar yang tidak dikenali

Di bawah Arc adalah Makam Perajurit Tak Dikenali daripada Perang Dunia Pertama. Dikebumikan pada Hari Gencatan Senjata 1920, ia memiliki api abadi pertama yang dinyalakan di Eropah Barat dan Timur sejak api Perawan Vestal padam pada tahun 394. Terbakar dalam ingatan orang mati yang tidak pernah dikenal pasti (sekarang dalam dua perang dunia). Model Perancis memberi ilham kepada makam Pahlawan Tidak Dikenali di Westminster Abbey, United Kingdom. Satu upacara diadakan di sana pada setiap 11 November di sambutan ulang tahun gencatan senjata yang ditandatangani antara Perancis dan Jerman pada tahun 1918. Ia pada awalnya diputuskan pada tarikh 12 November 1919 bagi mengebumikan jenazah prajurit tak dikenali di Pantheon, tetapi satu kempen penulisan surat terbuka mengarah kepada keputusan untuk mengebumikannya di bawah Arc de Triomphe. Keranda diletakkan di gereja kecil di tingkat pertama Arc pada 10 November 1920, dan diletakkan di tempat peristirahatan terakhir pada 28 Januari 1921. Kepingan atas prasasti ditulis sebagai ICI REPOSE UN SOLDAT FRANÇAIS MORT POUR LA PATRIE 1914–1918 ("Di sini terbaring seorang askar Perancis yang mati untuk tanahair 1914–1918").

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy of the United States paid their respects at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, accompanied by French President de Gaulle. After the 1963 assassination of President Kennedy, Mrs. Kennedy remembered the eternal flame at the Arc de Triomphe and requested that an eternal flame be placed next to her husband's grave at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. President de Gaulle went to Washington to attend the state funeral, and he was able to witness Jacqueline Kennedy lighting the eternal flame that was inspired by her visit to France.

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