Arc de Triomphe, Paris

A triumphal arch is a structure in the shape of a monumental gate, usually built to celebrate a victory in war. This tradition dates back to Ancient Rome and the tradition of the Roman triumphs granted by the Senate. A number of arches from the city's imperial era can still be seen in modern Rome.

The Arches of Rome were splendid monuments of triumph, erected in honour of her illustrious generals. They were at first very simple symbolic temporary gateways to the city, being built of brick or hewn stone with a semicircular arched heading and festively hung with trophies of captured arms. Vitruvius, the Roman writer on architecture, does not mention triumphal arches, for they were not yet a major consideration in his day, the 1st century BCE.

About the earliest surviving triumphal arch is the unpretentious Arch of Augustus at Rimini [1]. Afterwards more magnificent arches were built of the finest marble with a large, arched gate in the middle, and sometimes two smaller ones on each side, adorned with columns and bas-reliefs and crowned with statues, often a quadrigia . In the vault of the middle gate, hung winged figures of victory, bearing crowns in their hands, which, when let down, they placed on the victor's head, when he passed in triumph.

By the 2nd century, arches were erected that did not specifically commemorate victories, such as the surviving triumphal arch at Ancona, erected by a grateful city to commemorate Trajan's improvements to the harbor.

Some triumphal arches are made of stone and intended to be permanent. Of twenty-one arches in Rome mentioned in diocuments, five survive (see list below).

Temporary triumphal arches are still constructed, intended to be used for a celebratory parade or ceremony and then be dismantled afterwards.

See also

Temporary triumphal arch commemorating election of Emilio Aguinaldo as President of the Philippines, 1899

• city gate
• Roman architecture

External link

• Lacus Curtius website: "Triumphal arch" from William Smith, A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, John Murray, London, 1875

List of triumphal arches

Permanent monumental triumphal arches include:

Austria

• Siegestor, Innsbruck

Belgium

• Arch of the Cinquantenaire, Brussels (erected 1880-1905)
• Menin Gate, Ypres.

Croatia

Marble Arch, London

• Arch of Sergius, Pula, Istria

England

• Marble Arch, London
• Wellington Arch, Hyde Park Corner, London

France

• Carpentras
• Dijon: Porte Guillaume
• Marseille: Porte d'Aix (1825)
• Montpellier: Porte du Peyrou (1692)
• Nevers: Porte de Paris
• Orange
• Paris:
  • Arc de Triomphe (1806-1836)
  • Arc du Carrousel (1806-1808)
  • Grande Arche, La Défense (1982-1989)
  • Porte Saint-Denis
  • Porte Saint-Martin
• Pontarlier
• Reims: Porte de Mars
• Saint Rémy de Provence: Roman site of Glanum

Germany

• Brandenburg Gate, Berlin
• Siegestor, Munich (1843-1850)

Greece

• Arch of Galerius, Thessaloniki
• Hadrian's Arch , Athens

India

• Gateway of India, Mumbai

Iraq

• Hands of Victory, Baghdad

Italy

• Arch of Trajan, Ancona, erected 113
• Augustan Arch , Aosta
• Arch of Trajan, Beneventum, the Porta Aurea, erected 114
• Arco Campano , Capua
• Arch of Augustus , Fano
• Arch of the House of Lorraine , Florence, erected 1738 - 1759: the first freestanding permanent triumphal arch in Italy since Antiquity
• Arco della Pace , Milan, erected 1807 - 1838
• Arch of Augustus , Rimini, erected 27 CE
• Arch of Constantine, Rome erected 312 - 315
• Arch of Drusus , Rome, erected to honor Nero Claudius Drusus
• Arch of Gallienus , Rome
• Arch of Septimius Severus, Rome, erected 203
• Arch of Titus, Rome (81)
• Susa, erected 7 BCE
• Arco dei Gavi , Verona

The Soldiers and Sailors Arch at Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn, New York

Korea

• Arch of Triumph (Pyongyang)

Libya

• Arch of Tiberius, Leptis Magna, erected 35 AD
• Arch of Septimius Severus, Leptis Magna

Romania

• Arcul de Triumf, Bucharest

Russia

• Poklonnaya Hill, Moscow
• Moscow Triumphal Gate, St Petersburg
• Narva Triumphal Gate, St Petersburg
• Cossack triumphal arches in Novocherkassk
• Orlov gates, Gatchina

Spain

• Arc de Triomf, Barcelona
• Puerta de las Granadas, Granada
• Plaza de la Independencia, Madrid

Syria

• Arch of Septimus Severus, Latakia
• Palmyra

Turkey

• Anazarbus

The Washington Square Arch, New York City

Ukraine

• Arch of Catherine the Great, Novgorod-Seversky

United States

• Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch, Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn, New York
• Monumental Arch, Galveston, Texas (1987-1990)
• Washington Square, New York, New York

Categories: Monuments | Triumphal arches