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BrainStuff: How Did the Arc de Triomphe Become a Parisian Icon?
In a bustling plaza in the heart of Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte commissioned the Arc de Triomphe as a monument to his victories -- but he didn't live to see it completed. Learn more about its history in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://science.howstuffworks.com/engineering/architecture/arc-de-triomphe.htm
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- Duration:
- 9m
- Broadcast on:
- 02 Sep 2024
- Audio Format:
- mp3
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Head to Roku.com or your favorite retailer to deck out your dorm. [MUSIC] Welcome to BrainStuff, a production of iHeartRadio. [MUSIC] Hey BrainStuff, Lauren Vogelbaum here. As far as iconic Paris landmarks go, it's a toss-up between the Eiffel Tower and the Octatrionf. If the Eiffel Tower boasts more T-shirts and wall art bearing its image, the Octatrionf has given us some great film scenes with cars circling and circling it. That's because it's located within a plaza where 12 avenues, including the Chancile-Z, meet. It actually isn't the first monument that was proposed for the spot. Some years before the French Revolution, an architect submitted a proposal to build a monument to Louis XV in the same place. His concept was a three-story elephant with rooms inside and a trunk that would water surrounding gardens. But it was not meant to be. And the arch was commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte to commemorate his grand army's triumph at the Battle of Asterletes, which cinched his victory in the first of the Napoleonic Wars in December of 1805, and is still considered one of the most brilliant shows of tactics in history. Construction on the arch started in 1806, with the first stone laid on August 15th. Napoleon planned to ride through it at the head of his victorious army. It was inspired by the Arch of Titus in Rome, a monument built in the 1st century CE to be 50 feet tall and 45 feet wide. That's 15 by 13 meters, with intricate stone carving all around. It's gone on to inspire many some more monuments. But this French version would be much grander at 165 feet high and 145 feet wide. That's 50 by 45 meters. For the article, Zepzepzepzepz based on "Has to Work Spoke with W. Jude LeBlanc, an associate professor at the School of Architecture at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta." He said, "A Napoleon was known for never doing things on the cheap and thinking big." The emperor called on architect Jean-François Terres-Shelgren, who had spent some years in Rome and had previously worked on projects for Versailles and prominent churches. Perhaps Napoleon and Shelgren were too ambitious in their proportions because this new classical arch took 30 years of, albeit non-continuous, work to complete. It took more than two years just to lay the foundation. It wasn't finished when Napoleon married his second wife in 1810, so he had a full-size replica crafted from wood so that he and his bride could pass under it. Neither Napoleon nor Shelgren saw the structure read completion. Shelgren died in 1811, and his former people, Louis Robert Ghost, took over the project. But in 1814, Napoleon abdicated, and work on the structure slowed to a crawl, if not a standstill, until his death in 1821, in exile, on the island of St. Helena. In the meanwhile, the monarchy was reinstated, and King Louis XVIII resumed work on the Arc de Triomphe in 1823, with the project finally being inaugurated in 1836 by King Louis Philippe. Although Napoleon didn't get to see his completed, triumphal arc, he did pass through it. When his body was returned to France in 1840, it was passed under the Arc de Triomphe, on the way to his final resting place, under the Hotel des Envelida. Pardon my literal French, by the way, I never studied the language, and I'm trying. The Arc de Triomphe sits along the historical axis of Paris, which extends from the Louvre Museum to the business district of La Defants. And it's not the only arch along the axis. At one end, the Arc de Triomphe du Caracella, which was modelled on the Roman arches of Septimus in Constantine, sits between the Louvre and the Tularis Garden. That one is about a third of the size, and was also commissioned by Napoleon. At the far end of the axis, Le Grand Arch was built for the bicentennial of the French Revolution in 1989. It stands as a modernist monument to the hope of peace rather than the triumph of war, and is more than double the size of the Arc de Triomphe. The Arc de Triomphe itself includes many notable sculptures, with work by many prominent artists on the pillars, and other surfaces bear additional reliefs in the names of generals and battles. Abedit the Arc are the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, added in 1921, and the Eternal Flame, which is rekindled each evening. And due to its scale, the Arc de Triomphe is known for offering one of the best views of the city from the observation deck at the top, reached by a spiral staircase. [MUSIC] Today's episode is based on the article "How Napoleon's Arc de Triomphe Became a Symbol of Paris" on howstuffworks.com, written by Carrie Whitney. 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