Architectural Delight: Arc de Triomphe, Paris, France.

Before Arc de Triomphe became one of the world’s most famous monuments, Paris nearly built something completely different in its place: a gigantic hollow elephant. An 18th-century architect imagined a three-story elephant with rooms inside and water spraying from its trunk like a fountain. Instead, Napoleon Bonaparte commissioned the Arc de Triomphe in 1806 to celebrate French military victories.

But even Napoleon never saw it finished. Construction dragged on for nearly 30 years, so for his 1810 wedding procession, workers built a full-size wooden replica just so he could pass beneath it. The monument’s dramatic history continued long after: in 1919, a fearless French pilot flew a biplane straight through the arch.

The monument also serves as a memorial site, with the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and an eternal flame burning beneath the arch and today, military parades still march around the monument out of respect.

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Night bus tour of Paris (1/6)

Arc de Triomphe. Great wikipedia article on it… history, tomb of the unknown soldier, etc

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Arc de Triomphe

The Arc de Triomphe de l’Étiole (Triumphal Arch of the Star) by night.

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L'Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile, Paris, c.1905 - CPA

https://www.ebid.net/uk/for-sale/l-arc-de-triomphe-de-l-%c3%a9toile-paris-c-1905-cpa-224040283.htm

#Paris #ArcDeTriomphe

RaiNews: Trump presenta via social il suo Arco di Trionfo: "Il più grande e più bello del mondo"

Alto 76 metri, è destinato a sorgere a Washington e a lasciare un segno permanente della sua presidenza nella capitale americana

Trump presents his Arc de Triomphe on social media: “The greatest and most beautiful in the world.”

Standing 76 meters high, it is destined to rise in Washington and leave a permanent mark of his presidency in the American capital.

#ArcdeTriomphe #76meters #Washington #American

https://www.rainews.it/articoli/2026/04/trump-presenta-via-social-il-suo-arco-di-trionfo-il-piu-grande-e-piu-bello-del-mondo-5f7d388f-13bb-4b33-b2b8-c071eb6c49c5.html