Arc de Triomphe

In 1806, fresh from his victory at Austerlitz, Napoleon ordered a triumphal arch worthy of the armies of the Revolution and the Empire. He would never see it finished. Political upheaval kept stalling the project — work stopped when the Empire fell, resumed and stalled again — and the arch wasn't inaugurated until 1836, under King Louis-Philippe, thirty years after ground was first broken and fifteen years after Napoleon's own death in exile.

The finished monument is covered in sculpted reliefs telling the story of that turbulent generation of French history, the most celebrated being François Rude's "La Marseillaise" on the pillar facing the Champs-Élysées: a wing-spread allegory of Liberty rallying ordinary volunteers who marched out in 1792 to defend the young Republic. Its sense of raw urgency made it an instant icon, and later gave France's national anthem an image to match its name.

Since 1920 the arch has stood guard over something more solemn than military glory: the tomb of France's Unknown Soldier, one of the countless men killed in the First World War whose remains could never be identified. Its flame has been relit by hand every evening at exactly 6:30pm since 1923 — a ritual that has continued uninterrupted through occupation, protest and pandemic, making it the oldest continuously observed flame of its kind anywhere in the world.

The arch also sits at the hub of Paris's grand geometry. Twelve avenues radiate outward from the roundabout around it — giving the square its old name, Place de l'Étoile, "star square" — and the arch anchors the Axe historique, an almost nine-kilometre sightline running from the Louvre through the Tuileries and Place de la Concorde, up the Champs-Élysées and on to the skyscrapers of La Défense.

There's no lift: reaching the rooftop terrace means climbing 284 stone steps in a tight spiral staircase, so budget stamina (and a little patience if the stairwell is busy) for what is otherwise one of the best panoramas in Paris, looking straight down the Champs-Élysées to the Louvre and across the rooftops to the Eiffel Tower.

However tempting it looks from the pavement, never try to cross the roundabout itself — the traffic circling Place de l'Étoile is some of the most chaotic in Paris. Pedestrians reach the arch safely via the free underground tunnel signposted from the surrounding pavements, which is also the only official access route.