Fixing up the Arc de Triomphe

PARIS -- When Napoleon took in the sights of Paris, he wasn’t quite satisfied. “Paris doesn’t have enough monuments -- we have to give her some,” the emperor declared. The Arc de Triomphe loomed large in his plans.

Paris has accumulated a few more world-renowned monuments in the two centuries since, including the Eiffel Tower. Meanwhile, the messages of the colossal arch -- nationalism and militarism -- have fallen out of fashion, and the small museum inside was left to languish.

That’s changed. French culture officials inaugurated a new multimedia history exhibit there this week.

“The way we have been showing the Arc to visitors was not worthy of an important landmark,” said Jean-Paul Ciret, director of cultural development for France’s national monuments. “There was no light inside, and the ceiling was dirty.”

The museum’s collection included dusty historical engravings and photographs, and except for a minor touch-up in the 1950s, not much had changed since the 1930s.

The challenge of the redesign was finding exhibits to resonate with people from all over the world. There were 1.3 million visitors last year, more than 80% of them foreigners.

Few visitors are Parisian, said designer Maurice Benayoun, who planned the revamped visiting space along with Christophe Girault. Many don’t know there’s a museum inside and don’t realize there’s a tunnel to the monument under the frenzied circle of traffic that surrounds it.

“It’s intimidating, like an island circled by sharks,” he joked.

One draw for Parisians and foreigners is an “augmented reality” telescope on the arch’s terrace that lets viewers zoom in on a landmark and learn its name, the date it was built and other information.

Eventually, the telescope could be used to give viewers an impression of how the skyline looked in the past, or how it will look after future projects are built. The high-tech telescope won’t be finished until next month.

Inside the monument, an interactive exhibit on huge screens lets visitors look at other famous arches throughout Europe and the world. Other screens guide visitors through the Arc’s tumultuous history.

After Napoleon’s 1805 victory over Russian and Austrian forces at Austerlitz, he told his troops, “I will bring you back to France. You will pass through arches of triumph on your way to your homes!” Construction on the Arc de Triomphe began the following year.

But Napoleon fell from power, and the monument was not completed until 1836, years after his death in exile on the island of Saint Helena in 1821.

The arch served as a major backdrop in the 20th century’s wars. Nazi soldiers hung their flag from it during the World War II occupation. After Paris was liberated in 1944, Gen. Charles de Gaulle led a march from the Arc down the Champs-Elysees.

Over time, the Arc has become less a monument to military glory and more a tribute to fallen soldiers. France’s unknown soldier was buried beneath it in 1920, and a flame lit in his honor in 1923. The flame has been lit every day since then, even during the Nazi occupation, Ciret said.

“Between Napoleon’s initial idea and now, with the ceremonies in memory of war dead with flags lowered, there’s been an important evolution in what the Arc means,” Ciret said. “We want people to understand that.”