ARC DE TRIOMPHE

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                                                                              PARIS - Day #1     06/28/17

The ARC DE TRIOMPHE DE L'ETOILE was built in 1806 by order of Napoleon 1st, to celebrate the glory of war heroes.  The King of the French Louis -Philippe inaugurated it in 1836 and dedicates it to the armies of the Revolution and the Empire.  It is located on Place de l'Etoile at the western end of Avenue des Champs Elysées. 

 
The Place de l'Etoile forms an enormous roundabout of 12 avenues that radiate all around this square. Among these avenues, one knows among others, the avenue Kléber, Avenue of the Great Army, avenue of Wagram and well on the avenue of Champs Elysées. 

 
On November 11, 1920, the body of a French soldier who died during the First World War was deposited in a fiery chapel on the 1st floor of the Arc de Triomphe. In homage to all the "poilus" who fell for France, he was later buried under the vault of the Arc. The body of this unknown soldier was chosen by a young soldier of the Guard of Honor, Auguste Thien, among 8 coffins of unidentified combatants.

To commemorate his memory and more generally all the soldiers who died in battle, a flame of memory shines on his grave since 1923; It is revived every day at 6:30 pm.