Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, Paris
The Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel (Triumphal Arch of the Carousel) stands in the Place du Carrousel near the Louvre. Built between 1806 and 1808, it commemorates Napoleon's 1805 military victories during the Wars of the Third and Fourth Coalitions.
The arch measures 63 feet (19 m) high, 75 feet (23 m) wide, and 24 feet (7.3 m) deep. Its 21-foot (6.4 m) central arch is flanked by two smaller arches, each 14 feet (4.3 m) high and 9 feet (2.7 m) wide. Eight Corinthian marble columns, topped with statues of soldiers of the Empire, decorate its exterior.
The more famous Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile, located at the far end of the Champs-Élysées, was designed in the same year, is roughly twice the size, and was completed in 1836.
Designed by Charles Percier and Pierre François Léonard Fontaine, the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel was modeled after Rome’s Arch of Constantine (312 AD) as a gateway to the Tuileries Palace, Napoleon’s imperial residence. Its proportions were inspired by the Arch of Septimius Severus in Rome. The destruction of the Tuileries Palace during the Paris Commune in 1871 opened an unobstructed view west toward the larger Arc de Triomphe.
The frontispiece on the west façade (facing the Tuileries) reads:
“À la voix du vainqueur d’Austerlitz
L’empire d’Allemagne tombe
La confédération du Rhin commence
Les royaumes de Bavière et de Wurtemberg sont créés
Venise est réunie à la couronne de fer
L’Italie entière se range sous les lois de son libérateur”
I remember seeing the monument in the film A Little Romance, where a charming scene (starting at 21:14) features a young Diane Lane as a clever 13-year-old American girl living in Paris. More than 40 years later, that scene still lingers in my memory and shaped my desire to experience the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel in person. The real monument and its surroundings far surpass what’s shown on screen, and I make a point to visit every time I’m in Paris.
