World's Largest Arch to Glorify Patriots


by Naveen Marasinghe - Date: 2008-07-30 - Word Count: 375 Share This!

 

Being one of the historical landmarks in Paris, the "Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile" stands at the western end of Champs-Élysées and in the center of the place "Charles de Gaulle". This legendary monuments was structured in order to commemorate the heroic patriots who fought for France during the Napoleonic war. On the top and inside of the arch, the names of all the generals and the relevant wars have been inscribed as a honorable tribute to them.

 

The decision of the construction of this world's largest triumphal arch was taken by Napoleon I, so the architect Jean-françois Chalgrin was appointed to design the monument and eventually its construction was completed by 1836 under the sovereignty of Louis-Philippe as a giant monument of 162 feet in height. The major battles mentioned in the arch are the Battle of Austerliz, are the battle of Aboukir, victory over the Turkish and the most important "Departure of the Volunteers" of the year 1792 which also known as "Marseillaise". These are carved under 30 shields and the among them, the grave of unknown fearless soldiers of the First World War is carved underneath the arch.

 

More over, in the upper part of the arch on both left and right sides, sculptures in rectangular frames can be seen which have been made with a great patience and talent. The one in the left side depicts the invasion of Alexandria including a sculpture of Kléber leading his army forward while standing on the city walls as the first troop that reached the walls during the battles. In the one on the right side portrays Napoleon and his troops crossing the Arcole Bridge during the capture of Austrians.

 

 

The visitors have the occasion to climb up 284 steps to the summit of the arch or take the lift up to a certain level and climb 46 steps from there in order to enjoy the panorama of entire Paris and suburbs. According to the statistics, its elevator takes 600,000 people up to the top of the monument every year. Thus a large number of visitors who come to discover French culture and civilization can opt to stay at luxury Paris hotels such as Raffles Le Royal Monceau which itself is a remarkable architectural and cultural icon.


Related Tags: hotels in paris, paris attractions, paris accommodation, champs-elysees, arc de triomphe de l’etoile, world’s largest triumphal arch

Naveen Marasinghe is an Online Marketing Executive at eMarketingEye which is a search engine marketing company that offers integrated Internet marketing services and specializes in serving the online travel and hospitality industry. (http://www.emarketingeye.com/ )

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