Arc de Triomphe

Napoleon's triumphal arch with panoramic views over twelve converging avenues

Address Place Charles de Gaulle, 75008 Paris
Admission €13; free for under-18s and EU residents under 26
Opening Hours Daily 10am–11pm (Apr–Sep), 10am–10:30pm (Oct–Mar)
Website www.paris-arc-de-triomphe.fr

Napoleon commissioned the Arc de Triomphe in 1806 to honour his Grand Army, but he never saw it completed — construction took thirty years. The arch stands 50 metres high at the centre of Place Charles de Gaulle, where twelve grand avenues converge in a star pattern that remains one of the most dramatic pieces of urban planning in any European city.

At its base lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where an eternal flame has burned since 1923. The inscribed names of 660 generals are carved into the inner walls. Climb to the top for a panoramic view of Paris's Haussmann boulevards radiating out in every direction — the Champs-Élysées stretching toward the Louvre on one axis, the skyscrapers of La Défense on the other.

Do not try to reach the arch from street level. Use the underground pedestrian passage; the roundabout above is one of the most dangerous in Europe and pedestrians have no right of way.

things to do landmark sight
A story
Napoleon never passed through his own arch in triumph. He commissioned it in 1806 after Austerlitz, but construction was slow and the arch was only completed in 1836, fifteen years after his death on Saint Helena. When his remains were brought back to Paris in 1840, the funeral cortège was ceremonially routed through the completed arch — the only time Napoleon ever passed beneath it.

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