Porte de Paris

This Arc de Triomphe was erected between 1685 and 1692 to celebrate the capture of the city by Louis XIV in 1667. It replaced the earlier, more modest Porte des malades, which had been part of the city walls since the Middle Ages. The engineer in charge of building the new gate, Simon Vollant, had already distinguished himself alongside Vauban in the construction of the Lille Citadel. He deliberately sculpted a décor expressing the power and magnificence of the Great King: on the right, in a...