Arc de Triomphe: A Nationalist Symbol of France
Visiting the Arc De Triomphe, the world’s most famous dedication monument, brings to life some of The Love Punch movie’s most memorable sequences. Flashback: The camera reveals a rotating aerial picture of this magnificent triumphal arch when Emma Thompson (Kate) and Pierce Brosnan (Richard) set out to encounter Vincent in Paris. A view of the distant Eiffel Tower is rendered from the Arc de Triomphe, which stands at the centre of a four-way intersection. Despite the film’s deceptive title, this historical landmark captures the essence of combat.
The column rises in the centre of Place Charles de Gaulle, the star-shaped intersection created by 12 streets, on the western edge of the Champs-Élysées. This famous monument took thirty years to complete and is an honoured symbol of French national pride. The Arc de Triomphe honours those who died during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and it became the rallying point for marching French troops after its completion. In 1940 and 1944, Hitler and De Gaulle both followed this tradition.
As you go around the monument, you’ll discover inscriptions on the inner and outer walls listing the names of all French triumphs and generals. Thirty shields inscribed with the names of victories from the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars are housed in the dormer above the richly sculpted, broad horizontal band of soldiers.
On the inside walls of the building are etched the names of 636 French generals from the First French Empire. Italicized characters refer to those who lost their lives to wars. The inscriptions representing France’s most significant victories can be found on the bottom edges of the four supporting columns. These engravings, however, do not include Napoleon’s decisive loss at Waterloo. There is a World War I soldier’s tomb beneath the memorial. Every year the annual military parade begins and ends at this site, which sets the tone for a triumphant nationalism.
Emperor Napoleon appointed the Arc de Triomphe, which stands on the Seine’s bank, in 1806 as his riches improved. Napoleon arrived in Paris in 1810 with his Austrian bride Marie Louise and had a wooden replica of the arch made. Jean Chalgrin, the architect, died in 1811, and Jean-Nicolas took over. During the Bourbon Restoration, construction was further delayed. Napoleon’s bones passed through it in 1840 on their route to the Invalides, where he was laid to rest. This memorial had gotten blackened by coal soot and automobile exhaust by the mid-nineteenth century, and it had to be cleaned with bleach.
