Triumphal arch
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Arc_de_triomphe_frontsimple.jpg
A triumphal arch is a structure in the shape of a monumental gate, usually built to celebrate a victory in war. This tradition dates back to Ancient Rome and the tradition of the Roman triumphs granted by the Senate. A number of arches from the city's imperial era can still be seen in modern Rome.
The Arches of Rome were splendid monuments of triumph, erected in honour of her illustrious generals. They were at first very simple symbolic temporary gateways to the city, being built of brick or hewn stone with a semicircular arched heading and festively hung with trophies of captured arms. Vitruvius, the Roman writer on architecture, does not mention triumphal arches, for they were not yet a major consideration in his day, the 1st century BCE.
About the earliest surviving triumphal arch is the unpretentious Arch of Augustus at Rimini [1] (http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Emilia-Romagna/Rimini/Rimini/Rimini/Roman/Arcus_Augusti/home.html). Afterwards more magnificent arches were built of the finest marble with a large, arched gate in the middle, and sometimes two smaller ones on each side, adorned with columns and bas-reliefs and crowned with statues, often a quadrigia. In the vault of the middle gate, hung winged figures of victory, bearing crowns in their hands, which, when let down, they placed on the victor's head, when he passed in triumph.
By the 2nd century, arches were erected that did not specifically commemorate victories, such as the surviving triumphal arch at Ancona, erected by a grateful city to commemorate Trajan's improvements to the harbor.
Some triumphal arches are made of stone and intended to be permanent. Of twenty-one arches in Rome mentioned in documents, five survive (see list below).
Temporary triumphal arches are still constructed, intended to be used for a celebratory parade or ceremony and then be dismantled afterwards.
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See also
External link
- Lacus Curtius website: (http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Arcus_Triumphalis.html) "Triumphal arch" from William Smith, A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, John Murray, London, 1875
List of triumphal arches
Permanent monumental triumphal arches include:
Austria
- Siegestor, Innsbruck
Belgium
- Arch of the Cinquantenaire, Brussels (erected 1880-1905)
- Menin Gate, Ypres.
Croatia
England
- Marble Arch, London
- Wellington Arch, Hyde Park Corner, London
France
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- Carpentras
- Dijon: Porte Guillaume
- Marseille: Porte d'Aix (1825)
- Montpellier: Porte du Peyrou (1692)
- Nancy: on Place Stanislas
- Nevers: Porte de Paris
- Orange
- Paris:
- Arc de Triomphe (1806-1836)
- Arc du Carrousel (1806-1808)
- Grande Arche, La Défense (1982-1989)
- Porte Saint-Denis
- Porte Saint-Martin
- Pontarlier
- Reims: Porte de Mars
- Saint Rémy de Provence: Roman site of Glanum
- Saintes: Arch of Germanicus
Germany
- Brandenburg Gate, Berlin
- Siegestor, Munich (1843-1850)
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Greece
India
Iraq
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Italy
- Arch of Trajan, Ancona, erected 113
- Augustan Arch, Aosta
- Arch of Trajan, Beneventum, the Porta Aurea, erected 114
- Arco Campano, Capua
- Arch of Augustus, Fano
- Arch of the House of Lorraine, Florence, erected 1738 - 1759: the first freestanding permanent triumphal arch in Italy since Antiquity
- Arco della Pace, Milan, erected 1807 - 1838
- Arch of Augustus, Rimini, erected 27 CE
- Arch of Constantine, Rome erected 312 - 315
- Arch of Drusus, Rome, erected to honor Nero Claudius Drusus
- Arch of Gallienus, Rome
- Arch of Septimius Severus, Rome, erected 203
- Arch of Titus, Rome (81)
- Susa, erected 7 BCE
- Arco dei Gavi, Verona
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Korea
Libya
- Arch of Tiberius, Leptis Magna, erected 35 AD
- Arch of Septimius Severus, Leptis Magna
Romania
Russia
- Poklonnaya Hill, Moscow
- Moscow Triumphal Gate, St Petersburg
- Narva Triumphal Gate, St Petersburg
- Cossack triumphal arches in Novocherkassk
- Orlov gates, Gatchina
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Spain
- Arc de Triomf, Barcelona
- Puerta de las Granadas, Granada
- Puerta de Alcalá, Plaza de la Independencia, Madrid
Syria
Turkey
Ukraine
- Arch of Catherine the Great, Novgorod-Seversky
United States
- Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch, Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn, New York
- Monumental Arch, Galveston, Texas (1987-1990)
- Washington Square, New York, New York
de:Triumphbogen fr:Arc de triomphe it:Arco trionfale ja:凱旋門 pl:Łuk triumfalny sv:Triumfbåge zh:凯旋门