Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel: France

T he Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel (architects Percier and Fontaine) was built between 1806 and 1808 by Napoleon I following the model of the Arch of Constantine in Rome. The two arches conceived by Napoleon, Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel and the Arc de Triomphe de l’Etoile, were erected to commemorate his victories, and the grand armies he had commanded. The bronze horses which originally perched on top of the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel were taken from Saint-Marc of Venice. These were later returned after WWII.

The monument is richly decorated in rose marble on the columns and the front paneling. It is part of the so-called Grand Axis of Paris - or Voie Triomphale - which consists of the Grande Arche de la Defense to the west, the Arc de Triomphe de l’Etoile at place du General Charles de Gaulle, the boulevard Champs-Elysees, the Obelisque de Luxor at the Place de la Concorde, the Tuileries Gardens, the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, and the Palais du Louvre (Louvre Museum) culminating at the eastern end.
Physical Description

The Arc du Carrousel is composed of three arches: a big one and two little ones. While the principal structure is 63 feet high, 75 feet wide, and 24 feet deep, the ceiling of the big arch is 21 feet high and 9 feet wide, and the two small arches are each 14 feet, 16 inches high and 9 feet wide. The arc is surmounted by a group of men on horses underneath which one finds the names of the battles and treaties of Napoleon.

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-Élysées, 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.