The Arc de Triomphe's Origins: On August 15, 1806, the First Stone of Paris's Iconic Monument Was Laid-Hopetrip

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On August 15, 1806, the first stone of the Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile was laid. Returning from the Battle of Austerlitz, Napoleon I promised the soldiers of the French army a triumphant return to the capital, in the manner of the honours once granted to victorious generals and their troops under the Roman Empire, who paraded beneath triumphal arches on their return from battle. "You shall return to your homes only beneath triumphal arches," declared the Emperor.

On February 18, 1806, Napoleon I ordered by imperial decree the construction of this triumphal arch to "perpetuate the memory of the victories of the French army." Originally planned "at the entrance of the boulevards, near the site of the Bastille, so that entering the Faubourg Saint-Antoine one would pass beneath this triumphal arch," it was ultimately erected on the Place de l'Etoile, giving the edifice splendid perspectives along the axis and at the western end of the Champs-Élysées.

The architect Jean-François Chalgrin, initially in competition with architect Jean-Arnaud Raymond, drew inspiration from the Arch of Janus and the Arch of Titus in Rome for the design of the Parisian monument. On August 15, 1806, the first stone — shaped like a shield, bearing an inscription and covered with a bronze plaque for protection — was laid to mark Napoleon I's birthday. The event took place with no official ceremony and amid general indifference.

In 1810, after four years of work — two of them devoted solely to the foundations — Napoleon had the architect Chalgrin build a full-scale model in timber, stucco and trompe-l'œil painted canvases, to give the illusion of a completed monument on the occasion of his marriage to Archduchess Marie-Louise and her entry into Paris.

Under the Bourbon Restoration, construction of the Arc de Triomphe was interrupted and then abandoned, only resuming during the reign of Louis XVIII in 1823, under architects Louis-Robert Goust and Jean-Nicolas Huyot, to commemorate the victorious Spanish expedition of April 1823 that restored King Ferdinand VII of Spain to his throne.

But in 1830, Louis-Philippe returned to Napoleon I's original intent and dedicated the edifice to the armies that fought between 1792 and 1815. The architect Guillaume-Abel Blouet was tasked with continuing construction. Over the years, many proposals — some highly fanciful — were rejected in the monument's development, such as a colossal eagle, Napoleon on a sphere, a water reservoir, or even an elephant.

The Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile was inaugurated on July 29, 1836, for the sixth anniversary of the July Revolution (Trois Glorieuses). Originally, a grand military review was planned for the inauguration, in the presence of Louis-Philippe. But the king, targeted by an assassination attempt on June 25, ultimately cancelled the ceremony. Instead, a grand banquet offered by the king to 300 guests was organised, while the monument was gradually unveiled to the participants and the people of Paris.

Location: Arc de Triomphe, Place Charles-de-Gaulle, 75008 Paris 8 — Métro Charles de Gaulle - Étoile.