Who designed the Arc de Triomphe in Paris?

Jean-François-Thérèse Chalgrin designed the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Napoleon commissioned the monument in 1806 after the French victory at Austerlitz, intending it to celebrate the armies of the Empire. Chalgrin’s design drew on ancient Roman triumphal arches, especially the Arch of Titus, while giving the monument the monumental scale associated with Napoleonic Paris.

Construction began in 1806, but the project was incomplete when Chalgrin died in 1811. Louis-Robert Goust, Jean-Nicolas Huyot, and Guillaume-Abel Blouet subsequently continued or revised the work. The Arc was finally inaugurated in 1836, during the reign of Louis Philippe. Thus Chalgrin is the canonical designer, even though several later architects helped finish the building.

The monument stands at the center of today’s Place Charles de Gaulle, formerly Place de l’Étoile, where twelve avenues radiate outward. Its sculptural decoration was created by artists including François Rude, Jean-Pierre Cortot, and Antoine Étex. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, installed beneath the arch in 1921, later broadened its meaning from Napoleonic victory monument to national memorial.