Arc de Triomphe
Place Charles-de-Gaulle, 8th
tel: 01 55 37 73 77
Officially renamed place Charles de Gaulle after the death of the president in 1969, the circular area at the top of the Champs-Elysées is popularly known to Parisians as l’Etoile (‘the star’), after the 12 avenues branching out from its centre. It is dominated by one of the most enduring of Parisian icons and a memorial to megalomania, the Arc de Triomphe.
Although commissioned by Napoleon in 1806, the ornately sculpted arch was not completed until after his death. His chance to pass under the real thing finally came, however, when his body was triumphantly returned to Paris for reburial in Les Invalides in 1840.The arch soon became a focal point for state occasions, for example the funeral of Victor Hugo in 1885, when the writer’s coffin was placed underneath it. At the liberation of Paris following World War II, this was the spot where General de Gaulle commenced his triumphal march down the Champs-Elysées. The arch has less auspicious connections, however: when Adolf Hitler arrived in Paris as conqueror in 1940, the Arc de Triomphe was the first sight in the city he wanted to see.
Beneath the arch, the Unknown Soldier was laid to rest in 1920 and, in 1923, the eternal flame was lit. It is rekindled each evening at 6.30pm, during a wreath-laying ceremony.
The arch itself is decorated with elaborate friezes depicting battle scenes and sculptures, notably Burgundian sculptor François Rude’s La Marseillaise, and is carved with the names of battles won by Napoleon.
The platform above the arch can be reached via stairs (lift for visitors with disabiltities or with pushchairs) and offers fabulous views over Paris. It is here that you can best appreciate the tour de force of geometric planning that the avenues represent.
The best time to visit is early morning or evening, when the arch is quietest. The arch can be accessed via an underpass, not via the road itself: under no circumstances attempt to cross the roundabout on foot, which is always crazy with fast-moving traffic.
