L’ Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile 

Not to be confused with the smaller, l’Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, Paris’ most famous triumphal arch was commissioned by Napoléon in 1806 to commemorate all those who fought for France during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars.

Names of French generals and France’s victories are inscribed upon its surface, and beneath it is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, who was interred there on Armistice Day, 1920, as a symbol of those who died during WWI. An eternal flame has been burning on the tomb since 1923.

In 1810, because the Arch was incomplete, a wooden facsimile of the finished monument was erected to welcome Napoléon and his new wife, Marie-Louise of Austria, when they arrived in the City of Light.

Work on the Arch was halted during the Bourbon Restoration (1814-1830), after Napoléon was overthrown, and the memorial wasn’t finally completed until 1836, during the reign of King Louis-Philippe. Although Napoléon died in 1821, and didn’t live to see his monument finished, in December 1840, his remains passed beneath the Arch, as they were being transported from St. Helena to les Invalides.