Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey brain Stuff. Laurena vogebam here. As far as iconic Paris landmarks go, it's a toss up between the Eiffel Tower and the Octa trionf If the Eiffel Tower boasts more t shirts and wal art bearing its image, the octatrionph has given us some great film scenes with cars circling and circling it. That's because it's located within a plaza where twelve avenues, including La chance Luzi meet. It actually isn't the first
monument that was proposed for the spot. Some years before the French Revolution, an architects submitted a proposal to build a monument to Louis the fifteenth in the same place.
His concept was a three story elephant with rooms inside and a trunk that would water surrounding gardens, but it was not meant to be, and the arch was commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte to commemorate his Grand Army's I am at the Battle of Austerlitz, which cinched his victory in the first of the Napoleonic Wars in December of eighteen oh five and is still considered one of the most
brilliant shows of tactics in history. Construction on the arch started in eighteen oh six, with the first stone laid on August fifteenth. Napoleon planned to ride through it at the head of his victorious army. It was inspired by the Arch of Titus in Rome, a monument built in the first century CE to be fifty feet tall and forty five feet wide that's fifteen five thirteen meters with
intricate stone carving all around. It's gone on to inspire many similar monuments, but this French version would be much grander, at one hundred and sixty five feet high one hundred and forty five feet wide that's fifty by forty five meters. Before the article of z epsids based on Hastuffworks, spoke with W. Jude LeBlanc, an associate professor at the School of Architecture at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. He said Napoleon was known for never doing things on the
cheap and thinking big. The emperor called on architect Jean francoisterre Chel Grand, who had spent some years in Rome and had previously worked on projects for Versailles and prominent churches. Perhaps Napoleon and shell Gran were too ambitious in their proportions, because this neoclassical arch took thirty years of albeit non continuous work to complete. It took more than two years
just to lay the foundation. It wasn't finished when Napoleon married his second wife in eighteen ten, so he had a full size replica crafted from wood so that he and his bride could pass under it. Neither Napoleon nor
Shelgrand saw the structure reach completion. Chelgrand died in eighteen eleven and his former people Louis Robert Ghost took over the project, but in eighteen fourteen Napoleon abdicated and work on the structure slowed to a crawl, if not a standstill, until his death in eighteen twenty one in exile on
the island of Saint Helena. In the meanwhile, the monarchy was reinstated and King Louis the eighteenth resumed work on the Arctetrionph in eighteen twenty three, with the project finally being inaugurated in eighteen thirty six by King Louis Philippe. Although Napoleon didn't get to see his completed Triumphal arc. He did pass through it when his body was returned to France in eighteen forty. It was passed under the Octetrionph on the way to his final resting place under
the Hotel des Invellida. Pardon my literal French. By the way, I never studied the language, and I'm trying. The Arc de trientf sits along the historical axis of Paris, which extends from the Louver Museum to the business district of La de France, and it's not the only arch along the axis. At one end, the arctatrionf du Carousela, which was modeled on the Roman arches of Septimus and Constantine, sits between the Louver and the tou Luris Garden. That one is about a third of the size and was
also commissioned by Napoleon. At the far end of the axis, La Grande Arche was built for the bisentennial of the French Revolution in nineteen eighty nine. It stands as a modernist monument to the hope of peace rather than the triumph of war, and is more than double the size of the Arctatrion. The Octatrioph itself includes many notable sculptures
with work by many prominent artists on the pillars. Other surfaces bear additional reliefs in the names of generals and battles a bedeth, the ark Are, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, added in nineteen twenty one, and the Eternal Flame, which is rekindled each evening, and due to its scale, the Archtetrioph is known for offering one of the best views of the city from the observation deck at the top,
reached by a spiral staircase. Today's episode is based on the article how Napoleon's arquetrianph became a symbol of parrots on how Stuffworks dot Com, written by Kerry Whitney Brings Stuff. This production of by Heart Radio in partnership with hostuffworks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts from my heart Radio. Visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.