Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey brain Stuff.
Speaker 1: Laurena vogebam here. As far as iconic Paris landmarks go,
Speaker 1: it's a toss up between the Eiffel Tower and the
Speaker 1: Octa trionf If the Eiffel Tower boasts more t shirts
Speaker 1: and wal art bearing its image, the octatrionph has given
Speaker 1: us some great film scenes with cars circling and circling it.
Speaker 1: That's because it's located within a plaza where twelve avenues,
Speaker 1: including La chance Luzi meet. It actually isn't the first
Speaker 1: monument that was proposed for the spot. Some years before
Speaker 1: the French Revolution, an architects submitted a proposal to build
Speaker 1: a monument to Louis the fifteenth in the same place.
Speaker 1: His concept was a three story elephant with rooms inside
Speaker 1: and a trunk that would water surrounding gardens, but it
Speaker 1: was not meant to be, and the arch was commissioned
Speaker 1: by Napoleon Bonaparte to commemorate his Grand Army's I am
Speaker 1: at the Battle of Austerlitz, which cinched his victory in
Speaker 1: the first of the Napoleonic Wars in December of eighteen
Speaker 1: oh five and is still considered one of the most
Speaker 1: brilliant shows of tactics in history. Construction on the arch
Speaker 1: started in eighteen oh six, with the first stone laid
Speaker 1: on August fifteenth. Napoleon planned to ride through it at
Speaker 1: the head of his victorious army. It was inspired by
Speaker 1: the Arch of Titus in Rome, a monument built in
Speaker 1: the first century CE to be fifty feet tall and
Speaker 1: forty five feet wide that's fifteen five thirteen meters with
Speaker 1: intricate stone carving all around. It's gone on to inspire
Speaker 1: many similar monuments, but this French version would be much grander,
Speaker 1: at one hundred and sixty five feet high one hundred
Speaker 1: and forty five feet wide that's fifty by forty five meters.
Speaker 1: Before the article of z epsids based on Hastuffworks, spoke
Speaker 1: with W. Jude LeBlanc, an associate professor at the School
Speaker 1: of Architecture at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. He
Speaker 1: said Napoleon was known for never doing things on the
Speaker 1: cheap and thinking big. The emperor called on architect Jean
Speaker 1: francoisterre Chel Grand, who had spent some years in Rome
Speaker 1: and had previously worked on projects for Versailles and prominent churches.
Speaker 1: Perhaps Napoleon and shell Gran were too ambitious in their proportions,
Speaker 1: because this neoclassical arch took thirty years of albeit non
Speaker 1: continuous work to complete. It took more than two years
Speaker 1: just to lay the foundation. It wasn't finished when Napoleon
Speaker 1: married his second wife in eighteen ten, so he had
Speaker 1: a full size replica crafted from wood so that he
Speaker 1: and his bride could pass under it. Neither Napoleon nor
Speaker 1: Shelgrand saw the structure reach completion. Chelgrand died in eighteen
Speaker 1: eleven and his former people Louis Robert Ghost took over
Speaker 1: the project, but in eighteen fourteen Napoleon abdicated and work
Speaker 1: on the structure slowed to a crawl, if not a standstill,
Speaker 1: until his death in eighteen twenty one in exile on
Speaker 1: the island of Saint Helena. In the meanwhile, the monarchy
Speaker 1: was reinstated and King Louis the eighteenth resumed work on
Speaker 1: the Arctetrionph in eighteen twenty three, with the project finally
Speaker 1: being inaugurated in eighteen thirty six by King Louis Philippe.
Speaker 1: Although Napoleon didn't get to see his completed Triumphal arc.
Speaker 1: He did pass through it when his body was returned
Speaker 1: to France in eighteen forty. It was passed under the
Speaker 1: Octetrionph on the way to his final resting place under
Speaker 1: the Hotel des Invellida. Pardon my literal French. By the way,
Speaker 1: I never studied the language, and I'm trying. The Arc
Speaker 1: de trientf sits along the historical axis of Paris, which
Speaker 1: extends from the Louver Museum to the business district of
Speaker 1: La de France, and it's not the only arch along
Speaker 1: the axis. At one end, the arctatrionf du Carousela, which
Speaker 1: was modeled on the Roman arches of Septimus and Constantine,
Speaker 1: sits between the Louver and the tou Luris Garden. That
Speaker 1: one is about a third of the size and was
Speaker 1: also commissioned by Napoleon. At the far end of the axis,
Speaker 1: La Grande Arche was built for the bisentennial of the
Speaker 1: French Revolution in nineteen eighty nine. It stands as a
Speaker 1: modernist monument to the hope of peace rather than the
Speaker 1: triumph of war, and is more than double the size
Speaker 1: of the Arctatrion. The Octatrioph itself includes many notable sculptures
Speaker 1: with work by many prominent artists on the pillars. Other
Speaker 1: surfaces bear additional reliefs in the names of generals and
Speaker 1: battles a bedeth, the ark Are, the Tomb of the
Speaker 1: Unknown Soldier, added in nineteen twenty one, and the Eternal Flame,
Speaker 1: which is rekindled each evening, and due to its scale,
Speaker 1: the Archtetrioph is known for offering one of the best
Speaker 1: views of the city from the observation deck at the top,
Speaker 1: reached by a spiral staircase. Today's episode is based on
Speaker 1: the article how Napoleon's arquetrianph became a symbol of parrots
Speaker 1: on how Stuffworks dot Com, written by Kerry Whitney Brings Stuff.
Speaker 1: This production of by Heart Radio in partnership with hostuffworks
Speaker 1: dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more
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