From Tour Montparnasse, we took the subway to the Charles de Gaulle – Étoile metro station, at the end of the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, to visit Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile, right in the middle of Place Charles de Gaulle...
Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile does bear an uncanny resemblance to Delhi's India Gate, minus the sculptures on the face of the arch...
The Arc is located on the right bank of the Seine at the centre of a dodecagonal configuration of twelve radiating avenues, which was earlier called Place de l'Étoile, only to be renamed Place Charles de Gaulle in 1970...
It was interesting to note that Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel (located close to the Louvre museum), the obelisk of the Place de la Concorde that I had seen a few days back, the Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile, and the Grande Arche of La Défense that we had seen from the Tour Montparnasse earlier today, lie on one straight line called the Axe Historique...
(Image source: Wikipedia)
The construction of the Arc de Triomphe by the French Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte in 1806. The Emperor wanted to honor the Grande Armee, after they had conquered most of Europe and was then considered invincible. After the army's Austerlitz victory in 1805, Napoleon told his soldiers "You will return home through archs of triumph."...
The construction of the victory arch was stopped between 1814 after the abdication of Napoleon, only to resume in 1826. The names of 128 battles of the first French Republic and Napoleon's Empire are written on the white walls under the vault together with the names of the generals who took part in them. The construction of the Arc de Triomphe was completed in 1836, long after Napoleon's death in 1821. Napoleon's dream of leading his victorious army under the Arc de Triomphe, sadly, remained a dream...
In December 1840, the remain of Napoleon were brought back to France from the island of Saint Helena, and were passed under the Arch on their way to the Emperor's final resting place at Les Invalides...
The monument remains an important landmark in French military heritage. The annual Bastille Day Military Parade happens around the arch. In the past, victory marches that happened around the Arc have included the Germans in 1871, the French in 1919, the Germans in 1940, and the French and Allied forces in 1944 and 1945...
After the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was established under the arch in 1920, military parades have avoided marching through under the actual arch. They rather go around its side, out of respect for the martyrs interned at the tomb. This custom was respected even by Hitler in 1940 when the German army marched into Paris...
The Arc de Triomphe is built on such a large scale that, three weeks after 1919's Paris victory parade marking the end of the First World War, an aviator, Charles Godefroy flew his Nieuport biplane through it, in a sense fulfilling Napoleon's wish...
The sculpture Le Départ de 1792 (or La Marseillaise), by François Rude. The sculpture celebrates the First French Republic. The sculpture shows the winged personification of Liberty...
Le Triomphe de 1810, by Jean-Pierre Cortot celebrates the Treaty of Schönbrunn. This sculpture features Napoleon, being crowned by the goddess of Victory...
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