ARC DE TRIOMPHEDay at the Louvre

Arc de Triomphe The most monumental of all triumphal

arches Built between 1806 and 1836

Arc de Triomphe-Road Junction The Arc is in the Center of the Place

Charles de Gaulle, a large road junction in Paris.

The meeting point of twelve straight avenues.

Arc de Triomphe-Place de I’Etoile

The junction is historically known as the Place de l'Étoile, translated as "Square of the Star"

A sequence of monuments and grand thoroughfares are on a route which goes from the courtyard of the Louvre, to the Grande Arche de la Défense.

Honor of the Arc de Triomphe

The triumphal arch is in honor of those who fought for France in the Napoleonic Wars, WWI, and WWII.

Engraved on the inside are all of the names of the generals and wars fought.

Procession through the Arc de Triomphe

Arc de Triomphe became the rallying point of French troops parading after successful military campaigns.

Famous victory marches around or under the Arc have included the Germans in 1871, the French in 1919, the Germans in 1940, and the French and Allies in 1944 and 1945.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Inscriptions in the ground, underneath the

vault of the arch include the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I

Memorial Flame burns and have made the Arc de Triomphe Paris a revered patriotic site.

Daily ritual pays tribute to the Great Dead: each evening, at six-thirty, a flame is rekindled by one of the nine hundred associations

of former combatants regrouped under the association La Flamme sous l’Arc de Triomphe.

Observance of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

After the interment of the Unknown Soldier, all military parades have avoided marching through the actual arch.

The route taken is up to the arch and then around its side, out of respect for the tomb and its symbolism.

Both Hitler in 1940 and de Gaulle in 1944 observed this custom.1940: German troops on parade after

the surrender of Paris.  

Victory Parade WWI and Biplane Clearance

14 July 1919, marking the end of hostilities in World War I, the military command ordered the airmen to participate “on foot” – like the infantry.

Pilots regarded themselves as “heroes of the air”. A group of aviators decided to address this by selecting one of

them to fly through the Arc de Triomphe during the parade. On 7 August 1919, three weeks after the victory parade,

Charles Godefroy successfully flew his biplane under the Arc His close companion, a journalist Jacques Mortane, took the

picture below.

Walk from Arc de Triomphe to the Louvre

After you have experience the famous Arc de Triomphe, travel down the Avenue des Champs-Élysées.

Start at the Arc de Triomphe and walk down the street, straight through the Jardin des Tuileries, and end right at the glass pyramid in the main square of the Louvre.

It’s a long walk, but a lot of fun.