Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel
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Missing image Arc_de_triomphe_du_carrousel.jpg Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel |
Missing image Adtdc_relief.jpg Central bas-relief under the main arch of the Arc du Carrousel |
The Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel is a triumphal arch in Paris, France. It is located on the Place du Carrousel, just to the west of the Louvre.
Designed by Charles Percier and Pierre Léonard Fontaine, the arch was built between 1806-1808 by the Emperor Napoleon I as a pastiche of the Arch of Septimus Severus in Rome. It was commissioned to commemorate France's military victories in 1805. It was originally surmounted by the famous horses of Saint Mark's Cathedral in Venice, looted by Napoleon, but these were returned there in 1815. They were replaced by a quadriga sculpted by Baron François Joseph Bosio, depicting Peace riding in a triumphal chariot, led by gilded Victories on either side; the composition commemorates the Restoration of the Bourbons following Napoleon's downfall.
The high arch is flanked by two smaller ones. Around its exterior are eight Corinthian columns of granite, topped by eight soldiers of the Empire. In the attic between the soldiers, bas-reliefs depict:
- the Arms of the Kingdom of Italy with figures representing History and the Arts;
- the Arms of the French Empire with Victory, Fame, History and Abundance
- Wisdom and Strength holding the arms of the Kingdom of Italy, accompanied by Prudence and Victory.
Napoleon's diplomatic and military victories are commemorated by bas-reliefs executed in rose marble, depicting the Peace of Pressburg, Napoleon entering Munich, Napoleon entering Vienna, the Battle of Austerlitz, the Tilsit Conference, and the surrender of Ulm. Reliefs also decorate the arches.
The Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel is at the easternmost end of the so-called "Axe historique" ("grand historic axis") of Paris, a nine-kilometre long linear route which dominates central and western Paris. Looking westwards, the arch is perfectly aligned with the obelisk in the Place de la Concorde, the Champs-Elysees, the Arc de Triomphe and (although it is not directly visible from the Place du Carrousel) the Grande Arch de la Defense. The axis thus begins and ends with an arch today. At the time the Arc du Carrousel was built, however, Place du Carrousel fronted the central block of the Palace of the Tuileries, whose long range blocked off the axial view, which originally began from the Tuileries' central garden axis on the farther, west-facing side. When the Tuileries Palace was burnt down in the Paris Commune of 1870 and its ruins swept away, the present great axis was opened.