The story of this place
Napoleon commissioned the Arc de Triomphe in 1806 after his victory at Austerlitz, but it was completed only in 1836, long after his fall. Modelled on Roman triumphal arches, it stands 50 metres high at the head of the Champs-Élysées. In 1840 Napoleon's funeral cortège passed beneath it; in 1885 Victor Hugo lay in state here. After the First World War, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was placed beneath the arch in 1920, and its eternal flame has been rekindled every evening since 1923. In 1919 aviator Charles Godefroy flew a biplane through the arch. Twelve avenues radiate from its star.