Arc de Triomphe on Champs-Elysées

In 1806, Napoleon commissioned a massive triumphal arch to be built in Paris and modelled after those in Rome. As he often prioritized funding other works and projects that were more utilitarian over those that were purely "decorative", the construction of the arch was delayed several times.

After Napoleon's defeat and exile in 1815, the construction was stopped and only started again years later during the reign of Louis-Philippe, third and last King after Napoleon. Louis-Philippe was more progressive than the two previous Kings and picked up the Arch project.

The sculptures on the four sides of the arch were commissioned by him. The two most notorious ones face the Champs-Elysées: on the right, the armies of the French Revolution going to war in 1792 and on the left, the 1810 Triumph of Napoleon ending 18 years of war with Austria.

With the arch, Louis-Philippe acknowledged the importance of both the French Revolution and Napoleon's reign. It was inaugurated on 29 July 1836, thirty years after Napoleon had originally commissioned it.