Arc de Triomphe, FR
Two years just for the foundations
Laying the foundations alone took two years. Napoleon I commissioned the arch in 1806, after Austerlitz, and Jean-François Chalgrin drew it that same year with the Arch of Titus in Rome as his model. Finished, it measures 49.54 m high and 44.82 m wide. Louis-Robert Goust, Jean-Nicolas Huyot and Guillaume Abel Blouet are named as its architects too, and the work was completed in 1836. It was the tallest triumphal arch until 1938, when the Monumento a la Revolución in Mexico City took that at 67 m. Beneath the vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I, with an eternal flame.
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Sources
- Wikidata · CC0
- Wikipedia (en) · CC BY-SA 4.0