Arc de Triomphe

Napoleon commissioned it in 1806 after the victory at Austerlitz, but it was only finished in 1836, under Louis-Philippe. It stands 50 metres high, and its reliefs show battles of the Revolution and the Empire; the most famous is François Rude's La Marseillaise.

Beneath the arch lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of the First World War, there since 1921, and every evening at 18:30 its flame is rekindled. From the rooftop, reached by 284 steps, you see the twelve avenues radiating out and the great axis from the Louvre to La Défense.