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France, Paris: NOT THE Arc de Triomphe
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This Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel stands west of the Louvre (you can see it behind the arch) and was built between 1806-1808 (before the famous Arc de Triomphe) to commemorate Napoleon’s military victories of the previous year. The REAL Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile is down the Champs Élysées and though it was designed in the same year (and twice the size) it was not completed until 1836. The quadriga (horses and men) atop the arch is a copy of the so-called Horses of Saint Mark that adorn the top of the main door of the St Mark’s Basilica in Venice.
France, Paris: Is that an Egyptian Obelisk or the Leaning Tower of Paris?
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Place de la Concorde is where, during the French Revolution in 1789 the statue of Louis XV of France was torn down. The area renamed the Place de la Révolution and a guillotine was erected in the square. It was here that King Louis XVI was executed on January 21, 1793. On October 25, 1836, King Louis Philippe placed this tall Egyptian obelisk in the center, a gift from the Khedive of Egypt, Muhammad Ali Pasha. The 3,300-year-old Obelisk once marked the entrance to the Luxor Temple and the hieroglyphics on it herald the reign of the pharaoh Ramesses II.
If you squint and look way down the Champs Elysees behind the Obelisk of Luxor, you can see clear back to the Arc de Triomphe.
France, Paris: Arc de Triomphe
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Yup, the symbol of France is still there and still majestic. The Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile is situated at the center of Place Charles de Gaulle at the western end of the Champs-Élysées. Etoile means star and that refers to the twelve avenues which radiate from the arch.
The Arc de Triomphe honours those who fought and died for France in wars so it became the rallying point of French troops who paraded through it after successful military campaigns and for the annual Bastille Day Military Parade. After the interment of the Unknown Soldier from WWI, however, parades have avoided marching through the actual arch and go around its side, out of respect for the tomb and its symbolism. Both Hitler in 1940 and de Gaulle in 1944 observed this custom. After WWI, in an event captured on newsreels, Charles Godefroy flew his Nieuport biplane under the arch’s primary vault.
The bas relief shown in pic 2 represents Liberty under the figure of a winged woman pushing against the enemy invasion.
