This iconic triumphal arch forms the focus of the main east-west road axis of Paris, running between the Louvre and the Grande Arche de la Défense in the west. The monument was commissioned by Napoleon in 1806 as a tribute to his victories as Emperor of France - it was finally completed in 1836, long after his death. 50 m (150 ft) high and 45 m wide, the Arc de Triomphe is decorated with battle scenes and martial sculptures that includes La Marseillaise by Rude. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was placed beneath the arch in 1920, where an eternal flame burns in tribute to the French dead of both World Wars. The arch is surrounded by a large roundabout, aptly known as l'Etoile - 'the star' - with 12 thoroughfares leading off from it. Visitors can purchase a ticket to climb to the top of the arch, from where magnificent views spread out over western Paris. Admission to a small museum devoted to the history and meaning of the monument is included. The central island and the arch are accessed by an underground passage. Do not attempt to negotiate by foot the busy multi-lane road that rings the Arc de Triomphe, which many Parisian drivers seem to consider their own personal speedway.

The Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile (UK: , US: , French: [aʁk də tʁijɔ̃f də letwal] ; "Triumphal Arch of the Star"), often simply called the Arc de Triomphe, is one of the most famous monuments in Paris, France. It is located at the western end of the Champs-Élysées, at the centre of the Place Charles de Gaulle—formerly known as the "Place de l'Étoile"—named for the star-shaped configuration formed by the convergence of twelve radiating avenues. The monument is situated at the intersection of three arrondissements: the 16th (to the south and west), the 17th (to the north), and the 8th (to the east). Commissioned to honor those who fought and died for France during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, the Arc bears the names of French victories and its generals engraved on its inner and outer surfaces. Beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I, marked by an eternal flame commemorating unidentified fallen soldiers of the French Nation.

The central cohesive element of the Axe historique ("historical axis", a sequence of monuments and grand thoroughfares on a route running from the courtyard of the Louvre Palace to the Grande Arche de la Défense), the Arc de Triomphe was designed by Jean-François Chalgrin in 1806; its iconographic programme depicts heroically nude warriors and set the tone for public monuments with triumphant patriotic messages. Inspired by the Arch of Titus in Rome, Italy, the Arc de Triomphe has an overall height of 49.54 m (162.5 ft), width of 44.82 m (147.0 ft) and depth of 22.21 m (72.9 ft), while its large vault is 29.19 m (95.8 ft) high and 14.62 m (48.0 ft) wide. The smaller transverse vaults are 18.68 m (61.3 ft) high and 8.44 m (27.7 ft) wide.

Paris's Arc de Triomphe was the tallest triumphal arch until the completion of the Monument to the Revolution in Mexico City, Mexico in 1938, which is 67 m (220 ft) high. The Arch of Triumph in Pyongyang, North Korea, completed in 1982, is modeled on the Arc de Triomphe and is slightly taller at 60 m (197 ft). The Grande Arche in La Défense near Paris, France is 110 m (361 ft) high, and, if considered to be a triumphal arch, is the world's tallest.