Climbing the Arc de Triomphe: From Napoleon’s Dream to Paris’s Skyline

When you visit Paris, certain attractions top most people’s bucket list, and the Arc de Triomphe is definitely one of them. Once you climb the 248 steps to the top, the views of Paris are breathtaking. But it’s not all about the views.

Being a history gal, I love to know the story behind these sites, so when I look back at my pictures, it means more than just a great photo. This large stone building represents a multitude of things, from resilience and victory to peace and national spirit. The inscriptions of battles and generals engraved in marble cement their legacy.

But why was it built? And what about the events that have taken place in and around it? Join me as we take a peek inside the Arc de Triomphe.

From Napoleon’s Victory to a Grand Idea in Stone

The Arc de Triomphe began with a single man’s ambition. After Napoleon’s army defeated the Austrians and Russians at the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805, he wanted something big to show the strength of France. What Napoleon lacked in his own stature, he made up for with the Arc de Triomphe.

On February 18, 1806, he ordered a monumental arch to be built at the top of the Champs-Élysées, so that his troops could march home beneath it like Roman legions. The architect Jean-François-Thérèse Chalgrin was given the job. He took inspiration from ancient Rome, particularly the Arch of Titus, but scaled everything up to make it unmistakably French. 

The plan called for a massive arch with clean lines, heavy sculptural details, and enough space to inscribe hundreds of names of battles and generals. At nearly 50 meters high, it was never meant to blend in with the city; it was a statement piece.

The first stone was laid in 1806, but the project quickly became a stop-start affair. Chalgrin died in 1811 before his design could take full shape, and political changes after Napoleon’s fall in 1815 slowed things down further. 

It wasn’t until Louis-Philippe came to power in the 1830s that work truly got back on track. A new architect, Guillaume-Abel Blouet, was brought in to oversee construction. He stayed faithful to Chalgrin’s vision, and after decades of delays, the Arc was finally completed in 1836. 

A Monument Decades in the Making

The official inauguration took place on July 29 of that year, timed to coincide with the sixth anniversary of the July Revolution. The ceremony was meant to celebrate national unity, but in truth, the Arc was already something larger. It had outlived its original purpose as Napoleon’s triumphal arch and was turning into a monument for the French nation itself.

The story did not stop there. Four years later, in December 1840, Napoleon’s remains were brought back to Paris from Saint Helena. His funeral procession passed under the Arc on the way to Les Invalides, giving the monument the consecration it had missed during his lifetime. Crowds lined the Champs-Élysées to watch the return of the emperor.

Stories Carved in Stone

The Arc de Triomphe was designed to be read like a history book. Every relief and inscription ties back to a turning point in France’s story, especially the years of revolution and empire.

The best known of the four sculptural groups is François Rude’s Departure of the Volunteers of 1792, also called La Marseillaise. In that year, revolutionary France was under threat. Austria and Prussia had declared war, and enemy troops were advancing toward Paris. 

Thousands of citizens volunteered to defend the Republic, including a group from Marseille who marched north while singing Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle’s Chant de guerre pour l’Armée du Rhin. The song quickly spread through France, became known as La Marseillaise, and was later adopted as the national anthem. Rude’s carving captures that spirit: Liberty, with wings outstretched, leads ordinary men into battle, their faces charged with determination. 

On another side of the Arc is Jean-Pierre Cortot’s Triumph of 1810. This relief reflects the high point of Napoleon’s empire, when he married Archduchess Marie-Louise of Austria and secured a major alliance. Victory crowns him in the carving, while allegorical figures of Fame and History record his achievements. The year 1810 symbolized Napoleon’s peak, when it seemed as though his empire could dominate Europe indefinitely.

The two remaining panels, both by Antoine Étex, reflect a shift in mood. Resistance of 1814 recalls the desperate defense of France after Napoleon’s disastrous Russian campaign. Foreign armies invaded French territory, and Parisians were called upon to defend their city. The figures in the relief are shown straining against the enemy, a reminder of the resilience that defined those dark days. 

Peace of 1815 takes a different tone. After Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo and his second abdication, France faced humiliation and occupation. The carving imagines the country turning toward healing, with a personification of Peace offering comfort after years of war.

The inscriptions that run across the monument deepen this story. Along the attic are thirty shields, each one inscribed with the name of a major victory, from Austerlitz in 1805 to Wagram in 1809. 

Inside the vault and across the pillars are the names of 660 generals who served during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. Those who died in combat are underlined, giving a stark reminder of the cost of glory. More than 150 battles are also carved into the stone, transforming the Arc into a memorial as much as a monument.

A Monument That Never Stands Still

Although the Arc de Triomphe was finished in 1836, it has been added to over the years. One of the most powerful additions came in 1921, when the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was placed beneath the arch. The First World War had left the country devastated, with hundreds of thousands of families never able to recover the remains of their loved ones. 

The tomb gave the nation a single place to grieve. Two years later, in 1923, an eternal flame was lit beside it. To this day, the flame is rekindled every evening at 6:30, a ritual that has continued without interruption, even during the German occupation of Paris in the Second World War.

The Arc has also been a stage for parades and pageantry. In 1919, French and Allied troops marched beneath it to celebrate victory in the Great War. That same year, a daring aviator named Charles Godefroy shocked Parisians by flying his biplane straight through the arch to honor fallen airmen. 

A generation later, in 1940, German forces marched through during their occupation of Paris, only for the Free French and Allied troops to reclaim it in 1944. Each event added another layer to its meaning, demonstrating how different powers could claim the Arc while remaining a symbol of the French spirit.

Even today, national ceremonies continue to gather here. Every year on November 11, Armistice Day is marked with wreath-laying and the rekindling of the flame. State funerals, presidential inaugurations, and major anniversaries all include the Arc in some way. 

Climbing to the Top and What You’ll Find Inside

Getting to the top of the Arc de Triomphe is an experience in itself. There are 284 steps in total, most of them a tight spiral staircase that seems to go on forever. Your legs will feel it, but when you pause and look up, you realize you’re walking through the heart of a monument that has stood here for almost two centuries. For anyone who isn’t able to manage all those steps, there’s an elevator to the museum level, but the final stretch to the terrace still has to be done on foot.

Halfway up is a welcome break: a small museum space with scale models of the Arc, digital displays, and panels that explain how it was built. It’s worth spending a few minutes here to catch your breath and get a better sense of the design before making the last climb.

Once you reach the terrace, you’re rewarded with one of the best views in Paris. From nearly 50 meters above the city, you can take in a 360-degree panorama. To the east, the Champs-Élysées stretches all the way to the Place de la Concorde and the Louvre. 

Look south and you’ll spot the Eiffel Tower, the golden dome of Les Invalides, and the ribbon of the Seine. Turn north and you’ll see Montmartre rising in the distance with the white dome of Sacré-Cœur perched on top.

What makes the view so special is the position of the Arc itself. It sits at the center of Place de l’Étoile, with twelve avenues radiating outward in a star pattern. From above, you can watch the endless flow of traffic circling below, while the city unfolds in every direction. At sunset, the light softens over the rooftops, and if you stay a little longer, you can watch the Eiffel Tower sparkle.