Editing Arc de Triomphe (section)

== Design ==
=== Monument ===
[[File:Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile - Projet Chalgrin - 02.jpg|thumb|[[Jean Chalgrin]]'s drawing of the Arc de Triomphe, 1806.]]

The [[astylar]] design is by [[Jean Chalgrin]] (1739–1811), in the [[Neoclassicism|Neoclassical]] version of [[ancient Roman architecture]]. Major [[Academy|academic]] sculptors of France are represented in the sculpture of the ''Arc de Triomphe'': [[Jean-Pierre Cortot]]; [[François Rude]]; [[Antoine Étex]]; [[James Pradier]] and [[Philippe Joseph Henri Lemaire]]. The main sculptures are not integral [[frieze]]s but are treated as independent trophies applied to the vast [[ashlar]] masonry masses, not unlike the gilt-bronze [[appliqué]]s on [[Empire style|Empire furniture]]. The four sculptural groups at the base of the Arc are ''The Triumph of 1810'' (Cortot), ''Resistance'' and ''Peace'' (both by Antoine Étex), and the most renowned of them all, ''Departure of the Volunteers of 1792'' commonly called ''[[La Marseillaise]]'' ([[François Rude]]). The face of the allegorical representation of France calling forth her people on this last was used as the belt buckle for the honorary rank of [[Marshal of France]]. Since the fall of Napoleon (1815), the sculpture representing ''Peace'' is interpreted as commemorating the [[Treaty of Paris (1815)|Peace of 1815]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ackland.emuseum.com/objects/1640/sculpture-on-the-arc-de-triomphe-the-peace-of-1815-by-antoi;jsessionid=365026D7EE7878A64647A53F71EC0076 |title=Sculpture on the Arc De Triomphe: the Peace of 1815 by Antoine Etex |publisher=Ackland Art Museum |access-date=1 October 2022 |archive-date=12 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230112200248/http://ackland.emuseum.com/objects/1640/sculpture-on-the-arc-de-triomphe-the-peace-of-1815-by-antoi;jsessionid=365026D7EE7878A64647A53F71EC0076 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the attic above the richly sculptured frieze of soldiers are 30 shields [[Battles inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe|engraved with the names of major French victories]] in the [[Wars of the French Revolution|French Revolution]] and [[Napoleonic Wars|Napoleonic wars]].<ref>The [[Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro]] is inscribed as a French victory, instead of the tactical draw and strategic defeat that it actually was.</ref> The inside walls of [[Names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe|the monument list the names of 660 people]], among which are 558 French generals of the [[First French Empire]];<ref>Among the generals are at least two foreign generals, Venezuelan [[Francisco de Miranda]] and German-born [[Nicolas Luckner]].</ref> The names of those generals killed in battle are underlined. Also inscribed, on the shorter sides of the four supporting columns, are the names of the major French victories in the Napoleonic Wars. The battles that took place in the period between the [[Hundred Days|departure of Napoleon from Elba to his final defeat at Waterloo]] are not included.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://frenchmoments.eu/arc-de-triomphe-paris/ |title=Discover the Arc de Triomphe in Paris |website=French Monuments |date=26 November 2012 |access-date=29 May 2022 |archive-date=29 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220529115444/http://frenchmoments.eu/arc-de-triomphe-paris/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

For four years from 1882 to 1886, a monumental sculpture by [[Alexandre Falguière]] topped the arch. Titled ''Le triomphe de la Révolution'' ("The Triumph of the Revolution"), it depicted a chariot drawn by horses preparing "to crush Anarchy and Despotism".<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CLcvAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA2-PA318 |title=L'Art moderne |page=318 |year=1882 |publisher=Imp. Ve (i.e. 5th) Monnom |access-date=18 March 2023 |archive-date=20 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231120085155/https://books.google.com/books?id=CLcvAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA2-PA318 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Inside the monument, a permanent exhibition, conceived by artist [[Maurice Benayoun]] and architect Christophe Girault, opened in February 2007.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.arc-de-triomphe.org/ |title=Between War and Peace |access-date=15 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141216184504/http://arc-de-triomphe.org/ |archive-date=16 December 2014}}</ref>

=== Tomb of the Unknown Soldier ===
[[File:Paris Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile Grabmal des Unbekannten Soldaten 2.jpg|thumb|[[Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (France)|Tomb of the Unknown Soldier]] beneath the Arc de Triomphe.]]

Beneath the Arc is the [[Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (France)|Tomb of the Unknown Soldier]] from [[World War I]]. Interred on [[Armistice Day]] 1920,<ref name="NaourAllen2005">{{cite book |last1=Naour |first1=Jean-Yves Le |last2=Allen |first2=Penny |title=The Living Unknown Soldier: A Story of Grief and the Great War |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3E3PRfQdBosC&pg=PA78 |access-date=28 July 2011 |date=16 August 2005 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-0-8050-7937-1 |page=74}}</ref> an eternal flame burns in memory of the dead who were never identified (now in both world wars).<ref name=granfield>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xw9Cw3Khj68C&pg=PP15 |title=The Unknown Soldier |publisher=North Winds Press |first=Linda |last=Granfield |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-4399-3558-6 |access-date=18 March 2023 |archive-date=20 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231120085157/https://books.google.com/books?id=Xw9Cw3Khj68C&pg=PP15 |url-status=live }}</ref>

A ceremony is held at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier every 11 November on the anniversary of the [[Armistice of 11 November 1918]] signed by the [[Allies of World War I|Entente Powers]] and [[German Reich|Germany]] in 1918. It was originally decided on 12 November 1919 to bury the unknown soldier's remains in the [[Panthéon]], but a public letter-writing campaign led to the decision to bury him beneath the Arc de Triomphe. The coffin was put in the chapel on the first floor of the Arc on 10 November 1920, and put in its final resting place on 28 January 1921.<ref name=granfield/> The slab on top bears the inscription: ''Ici repose un soldat français mort pour la Patrie, 1914–1918'' ("Here rests a French soldier who died for the Fatherland, 1914–1918").<ref name=granfield/>

In 1961, U.S. President [[John F. Kennedy]] and First Lady [[Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis|Jacqueline Kennedy]] paid their respects at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, accompanied by President [[Charles de Gaulle]]. After the 1963 [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy|assassination of President Kennedy]], Mrs. Kennedy remembered the eternal flame at the Arc de Triomphe and requested that an eternal flame be placed next to her husband's grave at [[Arlington National Cemetery]] in Virginia.<ref>{{cite book| last=Gormley| first=Beatrice| author2=Meryl Henderson| title=Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis: Friend of the Arts| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F03mk7v-QxUC&q=eternal+flame| pages=142–43| date=11 May 2010| publisher=Simon and Schuster| location=New York| isbn=978-1-4391-1358-5| access-date=1 August 2024| url-access=subscription}}</ref>