History
article | Reading time5 min
From the end of the July Monarchy to the Paris Commune, via the Second Empire, discover the history of the Arc de Triomphe from 1848 to 1871.
First national tributes
In February 1848, the July Monarchy gave way to the Second Republic. The Arc de Triomphe became a tourist attraction. The Administration des Bâtiments Civiles supervised its opening to visitors, which nevertheless remained exceptional. The development of photography contributed to the Arc de Triomphe's growing renown, particularly the Daguerreotype, which made it a must-see monument in the capital, already boasting a unique panorama.
The last years of Louis-Philippe's reign were marked by two events that initiated the monument's honorary vocation for funeral ceremonies. In 1840, Louis-Philippe sent his son, the Duc de Joinville, to St. Helena to exhume and repatriate the Ashes of Emperor Napoleon. On December 15th, a monumental float crossed the Arc de Triomphe in front of a crowd of over 400,000.
On August 3th, 1842, the Arc de Triomphe once again welcomed a funeral convoy, that of the Duc d'Orléans. Louis-Philippe's son had died a few days earlier in a carriage accident.
Reproduction Patrick Cadet / CMN
The short-lived Second Republic
Between 1848 and 1852, the Arc de Triomphe was used for events linked to civic worship, and became a political and military rallying point. On April 20th, 1848, the government organized the Fête de la Fraternité. Bleachers were erected under the great vault, while flags decorated the entire Avenue des Champs-Élysées.
Numerous women held up bouquets of flowers tied with tricolor ribbons. Two thousand men, mobile guards, national guards, line troops and Republican guards, were mobilized for a grand parade. At 9pm, a 21-gun salute announces the arrival of the provisional government at the rostrum. This grand popular celebration contrasted with the conservative gatherings that the July Monarchy had organized around the Arc de Triomphe.
On November 19th, 1848, Parisians were invited to the Arc de Triomphe to watch the grand fireworks display to mark the coming into force of the Constitution. A few months later, on May 4th, 1849, the government decreed that a grand military parade would be held to mark the anniversary of the Proclamation of the Republic.
© Reproduction Patrick Cadet / Centre des monuments nationaux
Baron Haussmann's great works
On December 2th, 1852, Louis Napoléon Bonaparte (Napoléon III) was proclaimed Emperor. In front of a huge plebiscite, he entered Paris, crossing the Arc de Triomphe with his troops. Napoleon III revived the legacy of Napoleon I, his uncle. Thus, every August 15th of his reign was followed by a grand celebration and fireworks display at the Arc de Triomphe.
Motivated by a desire to ensure better law and order, and to enhance the capital's monuments, Baron Haussmann proposed to Napoleon III a major redevelopment of the Place de l'Étoile.The city's borders were extended by the Law of November 3rd, 1859, which provided for the annexation of neighboring communes. To close the square in on itself, Hittorff designed twelve star-shaped avenues linked by four-storey mansions of identical architecture.
The Pavillons and the octroi gate were considered obsolete and demolished in 1860. Finally, on May 23rd, 1863, an imperial decree renamed the Promenoir de Chaillot Place de l'Étoile.
© Reproduction Patrick Cadet / Centre des monuments nationaux
End of the Second Empire and Prussian occupation
Following its defeat by Prussia, Paris was besieged by enemy troops from September 17th, 1870 to January 28th, 1871. During the siege, the population of Paris suffered a terrible famine, but a feeling of resistance grew among the French. The sculpted group Le Départ des volontaires of 1792 by François Rude became a symbol of both resistance and the affirmation of revolutionary ideals.
The troops of the new German Empire obtained from Adolphe Thiers the symbolic occupation of the Avenue des Champs-Élysées from March 1st to 3rd, 1871. On the night of February 27th to 28th, Parisians erected barricades around the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Élysées. The four sculpted pillars were protected by wooden planks, while the passage under the Arc was blocked off to prevent the victors from marching through.
When the siege was lifted, as if to "purify" the area, Parisians set fire to straw and manure on the Champs-Élysées and under the Arc de Triomphe, where the Prussians marched on March 1st.
© Benjamin Gavaudo / Centre des monuments nationaux
The Paris Commune
Right from the start of the Commune, the Executive Committee decided to protect the Arc de Triomphe, then considered a Republican monument of resistance, while other monuments such as the Colonne Vendôme were attacked for their reference to Napoleonic glories.
At the height of the fighting, the Fédérés of the Commune installed a battery of cannons on top of the Arc de Triomphe to retaliate against Versaillais fire. Victor Hugo reported that the Versaillais relentlessly attacked the Arc de Triomphe. For the Fédérés, the monument had to be spared, not least because of its revolutionary roots, a token of loyalty to the ideals of the Commune.
The Third Republic took charge of repairs to the monument, particularly to the west façade (Grande-Armée's avenue). At the same time, sculptor Antoine Etex was recalled to restore his two sculptural groups, La Paix and La Résistance.
© Reproduction Patrick Cadet / Centre des monuments nationaux
