LOUVRE PALACE, Tuileries

With the Louvre building behind you, the green space of the Tuileries Gardens now open out before you, with the ambitious Arc du Carrousel in front of them.

A perfect example of the dignified "Empire" style, this arch was erected in the early 1800s to celebrate the Napoleonic victories, in particular the victory over the Austrian army at Austerlitz. If you feel familiar, it is because you are inspired by the arch of Constantine in Rome: three archways, friezes and bas-reliefs, and an attic on top with a carriage drawn by four horses. In Napoleon's time the horses came from St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, but after the defeat at Waterloo they were returned.

In addition to the central arch you can also admire the impressive architectural continuity that follows the axis of the Champs Elysées, through the Arc de Triomphe at the center of the Place d'Etoile and extending to the modern district of La Défense, which has a grand palace at its center constituting the third arch in the sequence of monuments....