Tag Archives: Arc de Triomphe

La Défense

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La Défense is Europe’s largest purpose-built business district with 560ha (1,400acres). It is located outside the Paris city limits in the département Hauts-de-Seine. and divided between four municipalities: Puteaux, Courbevoie, Nanterre and La Garenne-Colombes.

The name stems from a monument called La Défense de Paris honoring the soldiers defending the city of Paris during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. It was inaugurated in 1883 and has since been moved several times to accommodate the changing business district that now bears its name.

180,000 people work here, while only about 25,000 people live in the apartments that can be found in between the office towers. La Défense can be reached on public transport with the métro 1 which has two stations, one at each extremity: Esplanade de La Défense and La Défense (Grande Arche), as well as with the RER A at the La Défense station.

The axis in its extension from the Champs-Élysées was drawn under Louis XV, but it was only in the 1960s that the business district began to grow. It went through several stages until it became the collection of skyscrapers that it is today. Currently its highest tower is the Tour First at 231m, which is also France’s highest skyscraper.

Visitors to La Défense will notice the long esplanade stretching along the center of the district and culminating in the Parvis square between the CNIT, the Quatre Temps Shopping Center and the Grande Arche.

The Parvis with the CNIT on the left and the Quatre Temps shopping mall to the right – in the distance, the Arc de Triomphe

The CNIT is the oldest building of La Défense and the largest unsupported concrete span enclosed space in the world. Entry is free, you just need to look up to see the impressive roof structure.

inside the CNIT

The Quatre Temps Shopping mall was the most visited shopping mall in France in 2019.

Below the esplanade hides a network of streets, the métro, the RER train, delivery docks, service and  emergency access roads, and parking garages.

La Défense métro station below the Esplanade
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Arc de Triomphe

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The Arc de Triomphe, or Triumphal Arch, was built on the orders of Napoléon Ier. Its construction began at the same time as that of the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, in 1806. By the time it was achieved in 1836, Napoléon had long since disappeared and a king sat once again on the French throne, namely Louis-Philippe.

Built on a hill, the Arc de Triomphe is easily visible both from the Place de la Concorde and the Esplanade de La Défense.

Napoléon Ier had the arch built following the victorious battle of Austerlitz. Initially, he wanted it to be located on the east side of the city, near the Bastille, so that returning armies would enter the Faubourg Saint Antoine by passing under his arch. However, he could be convinced that the current location was better suited (especially for financial reasons).

Today, the Arc de Triomphe still is a monument with a strong historical connotation, which was only reinforced by the burial of the unknown soldier from WWI beneath it in 1921. The eternal flame arrived two years later, one of the first of its kind in the modern era. It is rekindled every evening at 6.30pm.
When the European Union flag was flown inside the Arc de Triomphe at the beginning of January 2022, to mark the French presidency of the European Union (January-June 2022), it earned much criticism, and the flag was taken down. (The EU circle of stars on a blue-illuminated Eiffel Tower was fine, as the tower does not bear the same historical significance.)

Several times a year, the sun rises or sets in the axis of the Arc de Triomphe: sunrise on February 4, 5 and 6 and November 7, sunset on May 7, 8 and 9 as well as August 3, 4 and 5.

Among the events that took place at the Arc de Triomphe, the most notable ones are the transfer of Napoléon Ier’s ashes in 1840, the vigil of Victor Hugo prior to his funeral in the Panthéon, and sadly the yellow-vest riots’s third protest on December 1st, 2018, during which the Arc de Triomphe was smeared, damaged and graffitied.

In September 2021, the Arc de Triomphe was wrapped up by Christo and Jeanne Claude.

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The Tuileries Palace and Gardens

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The Jardin des Tuileries is a 55 acres parc located between the Louvre and the Place de la Concorde. Its name derives from the tuileries (brickyards) that were in its place in the 13th century. Catherine de’ Medici, widow of king Henry II and mother of king François II, bought the lands which lay west of the Louvre and outside the Charles V city wall to have a new palace built with more space for gardens. Construction of the Palais des Tuileries began in 1564, and the Italian Gardens were set up on the lands between the new palace and what is today the Place de la Concorde.

The Palais des Tuileries burnt down during the events of the Commune and its remains were demolished in 1883.

This is where the Tulieries Palace stood

The historic axis has a slight kink at the Tuileries Palace site as you will notice if you stand at the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel. The straight line that runs from Concorde along the Champs Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile and beyond it to the Grande Arche de La Défense, was originally centered on the façade of the Tuileries Palace. The line east of the Tuileries Palace was centered on the façade of the Louvre, and since the two façades are at slightly different angles, the line in its continuation is not straight.

Look closely at these two images, and you will see the line is not straight!

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The Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel

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An Arc de Triomphe is a Triumphal Arch, a concept dating back to Roman times. This particular arch was built by Napoléon Ier in the style of the Arch of Septimius Severus on the Forum Romanum.
In the same way at that Roman arch, it commemorates an army and, obviously, a triumph, namely that of the Grande Armée in the years prior to its construction which began in 1806.

But what is a carrousel? In this case, the term refers to a type of military dressage. The Place du Carrousel where the arch is located takes its name from the Grand Carrousel, which took place there on June 5-6, 1662, on the orders of Louis XIV to celebrate the birth of his firstborn son Louis (who despite being the Dauphin, did not become king after his father).

The arch was not yet part of a special axis, even though planning and construction of the Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile began the same year. In fact, it was built right in front of the Tuileries Palace that closed off the Louvre on its western end and became its gate of honor.

Instead of the destroyed Tuileries Palace, you see elements of the axe historique
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Triumph in a straight line

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I’m sure you have no trouble spotting the Champs Élysées avenue on a map of Paris. It’s long, large, and straight. Its two end points are easily made out – the Place Charles de Gaulle-Étoile with the Arc de Triomphe on one end, the Place de la Concorde with the Tuileries Gardens and the Louvre on the other. But did you know there’s more to this straight line?

View of Concorde, Tuileries Gardens and Louvre from the Eiffel Tower

The axe historique (historical axis) or voie triomphale (triumphal way) has a long history that goes back to the 16th century when Catherine de’ Medici, widow of Henry II, had the Tuileries Palace built. The palace burned down during the Commune events, it would be placed between the two “open ends” of the Louvre.

In the 17th century, André Le Nôtre, architect of the Versailles palace gardens, used the royal residence of the Tuileries Palace as reference when he created an avenue running westwards, planning as far as today’s Rond-Point des Champs Élysées.

Today, the axe historique starts at the Louvre, or even at the bell tower of the Saint Germain l’Auxerrois church and ends at the Grande Arche de la Défense.

Let’s explore the axe historique step by step, east to west.

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The Arc de Triomphe under wraps

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For two weeks, from September 18 to October 3rd, 2021, the Arc de Triomphe monument was wrapped by Christo and Jeanne-Claude (posthumously, as Jeanne-Claude died in 2009 and Christo, in 2020). Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped up several of well-known monuments all over the world, the Pont-Neuf (1985) among them as well as the Reichstag in Berlin (1995).

The Arc de Triomphe, however, had a special meaning for them, as Paris is the place where they first met. They started planning their Arc de Triomphe project in 1961, so yes, it was 60 years in the making.

The Place de l’Étoile at the center of which thrones the Arc de Triomphe, is a giant roundabout where no fewer than twelve avenues meet. If you look at it from above and zoom in, you will see there are triangles on the road surface making it effectively look like a star (étoile in French).

During the opening weekend of the Wrapped exhibition, all twelve avenues were closed off, and the roundabout was open to pedestrians. It was possible not only to approach the artwork but to actually touch it.

Meanwhile, veteran associations watched over the eternal flame below the Arc and the daily ceremony of relighting the flame continued.

Location of the Arc de Triomphe on a map of Paris
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