| Quick Facts | Detail |
|---|---|
| Commissioned: 1806 by Napoleon I | |
| Completed: 1836 (under King Louis-Philippe) | |
| Architect: Jean-François-Thérèse Chalgrin | |
| Height: 50 metres | |
| Width: 45 metres | |
| Depth: 22 metres | |
| Location: Place Charles de Gaulle (formerly Place de l'Étoile), western end of the Champs-Élysées | |
| UNESCO: Part of the "Banks of the Seine" World Heritage buffer zone | |
| Annual visitors: ~1.5 million |
The Arc de Triomphe stands at the centre of the Place Charles de Gaulle — the terrifying twelve-lane roundabout where twelve Parisian avenues converge like spokes of a wheel. It is both a monument to military triumph and a place of national mourning: beneath its vault burns the eternal flame of the Tombe du Soldat Inconnu (Tomb of the Unknown Soldier), rekindled every evening at 6:30 PM since 1923 in memory of the unidentified French dead of the First World War.
Napoleon commissioned the arch in 1806, hours after his victory at Austerlitz, intending it as a permanent celebration of his Grande Armée. He never saw it finished. Construction dragged through three decades, two regime changes, and a revolution. When it was finally completed in 1836, Napoleon had been dead for fifteen years. His funeral cortège passed beneath the incomplete arch in 1840, when his remains were returned from Saint Helena — one of French history's great ironies.
Architecture & Sculpture
Chalgrin modelled the design on the Arch of Titus in Rome, but at roughly twice the scale. The four main sculptural groups are among the finest public works in Paris:
- Le Départ de 1792 (François Rude) — commonly called La Marseillaise (The Marseillaise), showing the spirit of France rallying volunteers. This is the most famous of the four reliefs and one of the great Romantic sculptures.
- Le Triomphe de 1810 (Jean-Pierre Cortot) — Napoleon crowned by Victory after the Treaty of Vienna
- La Résistance de 1814 and La Paix de 1815 (Antoine Étex) — depicting French resistance to the Allied invasion and the peace that followed
The interior walls are engraved with the names of 660 French generals and 158 battles. Names underlined indicate those who died in battle. The rooftop terrace offers a complete 360-degree panorama of Paris — the Champs-Élysées to the east, La Défense to the west, Montmartre to the north, and the Eiffel Tower to the southwest.
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
On 11 November 1920, the body of an unidentified French soldier from Verdun was interred beneath the arch. The eternal flame was added in 1923, the first of its kind on a war memorial. Every evening, veterans' associations conduct a rekindling ceremony — a tradition unbroken for more than a century, including throughout the German occupation of Paris (1940–1944), when French veterans continued the ceremony despite the presence of Wehrmacht soldiers.
The flame has become the focal point of French national commemorations. On Armistice Day (11 November), Bastille Day (14 July), and other solemn occasions, the President of the Republic lays a wreath at the tomb.
Historic Moments
- 1840: Napoleon's funeral cortège passes beneath the arch
- 1919: Victory parade after World War I, led by Marshals Foch and Joffre
- 1940: German troops march through — the most painful image in French collective memory
- 1944: De Gaulle leads the liberation march down the Champs-Élysées, with snipers still firing from rooftops
- 1968: The arch becomes a rallying point during the May protests
- 2021: Artist Christo's posthumous wrapping of the arch in silvery-blue fabric draws 6 million visitors over sixteen days
Practical Visitor Information
- Getting there: Métro Charles de Gaulle–Étoile (Lines 1, 2, 6) — use the underground tunnel from the Champs-Élysées; do NOT attempt to cross the roundabout on foot
- Tickets: €16 adults, free under 18; buy online at paris-arc-de-triomphe.fr to avoid queues
- Access: 284 steps to the rooftop terrace (no lift to the top); small museum at the halfway point
- Best time: Late afternoon for golden light on the Champs-Élysées; the terrace is uncovered, so check weather
- Free entry: First Sunday of each month (November–March)
The view from the rooftop is arguably better than the Eiffel Tower's — you can see the tower itself framed perfectly against the city, with the full length of the Champs-Élysées stretching east toward the Louvre.
On the ground
| Pin | Working note |
|---|---|
| Page | The Arc de Triomphe |
| Desk | L'Esprit |
| First use | Read the pins, then one related page — not five |
| Confirm | Official site or ticket desk the week you go |
If another France InfoBuffoon guide owns the beat — a park gate, a museum Tuesday, a wine list — we send you there instead of duplicating a thinner copy here. The Arc de Triomphe sits in a country that is easy to over-plan and easy to under-prepare. The landmarks layer is where visitors collect names. This page is the opposite: what to do first, what to skip, and which sibling guide holds the rest.
France rewards a slow unit. One arrondissement, one valley, one appellation, one park trail. The photograph of five landmarks in five days is a real holiday, and it is also a queue with a passport. If you only have three nights, spend two of them in the same bed. The third night is for a train, not a third hotel.
Working a visit
Practical France is sockets (Type E/F, 230 V), tap water that is safe, pharmacies that are the real clinic for minor trouble, and a lunch hour that still closes a village. Cards work in cities. Cash still opens some park kiosks, some island boats, and some market stalls that have never seen contactless. A lightweight adapter belongs in the personal item, not the hold.
We will not write as if every reader is on a gap year, or as if every reader is in a palace hotel. We will not flatten 'the south' into one climate. We will not treat a strike day, a jour férié, or a Tuesday museum closure as a personality quirk of the French. They are calendars. Check them. Then use The Arc de Triomphe as a pin, not as scripture.
Cross the five guides instead of cloning them. La Porte holds trains and the first week. La Terre holds weather and park gates. L'Esprit holds museum Tuesdays and the Revolution. La Table holds the market morning and the wine list. Le Moteur holds the Tour, the working week, and why August is empty in Paris and full on the coast.