1839.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



IGl 



Fig, 3. — The Ground Plan of one of the Piers. 



Fig. 4.— Half the Plan of Upper Story. 



alacrity, that they had reached the height of more than twenty feet 

 al)ove the ground, when, in consequence of Napoleon's union with 

 Maria Louisa, he was commanded to make some alterations in his designs 

 with regard to the subjects of some of the reliefs, &c., but without 

 interfering with the general idea for the monument. On Maria 

 Louisa's entry into Paris, it was temporarily completed by a frame- 

 work of timber raised upon it, covered with canvass, painted to 

 resemble the decorations ; and on this impromptu construction being 

 removed, the works were prosecuted with all possible dispatch. Chal- 

 grin, however, dieil in January, 1811, and was succeeeded by Goust, 

 who continued the edifice conformably with the designs of his prede- 

 €-essor, till 1814, at which lime it had been carried up as far as the 

 imposts of tlie arch. Then came the reverse, whose history may be 

 summed up in the four disastrous words — Moscow, Elba, Waterloo, 

 St. Helena. 



After a pause of nine years, it was resolved in 1823 to proceed afresh 

 with the work, but to convert it into a monument of the Due d'An- 

 gouleme's Spanish campaign; and among the alterations inconsequence 

 proposed, it was considered expedient to remove the pedestals on each 

 side of the arch to the centre of the piers. Accordingly, both Goust 

 and Hnyot offered plans for that purpose ; and Huyot's was the one 

 accepted by the committee, consisting of Tournon, Hericourt de 

 Thury, Quatremere de Quincy, and Percier. This was, kowever, after- 

 wards set asi 'e, and Goust was ordered to proceed according to 

 Chalgrin's plan. But in 1823 he was superseded by Huyot, and lie 

 had carried up the building as far as the attic, which he intended to be 

 decorated uiih thirty statues on lofty pedestals, connected by an open 

 balustrade; when the political events of 1830 interfered, and Louis 

 Philippe ordtred that the monument should record all the exploits of 

 the French armies, from 1792 to 181.5. Huyot was dismissed, and 

 Blouet, his successor, completed the monument as it now exists. But 

 Chalgrin's idea, which he recommended should be carried into execu- 

 tion, and according to which the whole would have been surmounted by 

 a figure of Victory, in a car drawn by six horses, has not been realised. 



Although the reliefs and other sculptures are in themselves the most 

 important features in the monument, which, independently of such deco- 

 ration, and its colossal vastness, has nothing particularly striking in its 

 design, we shall not enumerate their several subjects, which would after 



all be a mere catalogue of names. In regard to them, therefore, we will 

 merely state tliit M. Thiery, a French architect, is engaged upon a 

 large descriptive monograph, in which ail the details and ornaments 

 will be fully exhibited together with the constructive details, and the 

 changes that were made from time to time in the works. We iiiu^t 

 not, however, omit to specify its principal dimensions; which, for tlie 

 sake of greater convenience, we here give in a tabular form, both in 

 metres and English feet : — 



METRES FEET INTIIFS 



Entile Height 49.483 162 4 



Breadth 44.820 147 



Depth or Literal Breadth . . 22.260 73 



Height of Large Arch . . 29.420 96 6 



Width of ditto 14.620 47 10 



Heightof Small or Lateral Arches 18.630 6 I 



Width of ditto 8.440 27 7 



According to a return of the Minister of the Interior, made up to 

 December, 1836, the total disbursements from 1806 to 1836 were 

 10,691,098 francs 91 cent. From this sum deductions must be made 

 for alterations, caused by political changes 876,243 francs 83 cent, 

 and for the temporary canvass erection on the marriage of the Em- 

 peror 511,345 francs 29 cent, or 1,387,591 francs 12 cent. Thus the 

 arch property cost 9,303,307 francs 79 cent. (372,140/.); of which 

 four millions were spent umler the Emperor, three millions under tlie 

 Restoration, and under Louis Phillippe, three millions. The gas- 

 fittings cost 38,464 francs 30 cent, or 1338/. 



The best way of estimating' the effect of such extraordinary dimen- 

 sions, is to refer to some well known object that will furnish a direct 

 comparison in regard to size, and we find such comparison ready 

 made to our purptjse. in the second volume of the " Illusirafons of the 

 Puhlic Buildings of London," (p. 216,) where, speaking of Temple-bar, 

 the Editor remarks that the whole of it, " with ani.iher liuildiiig of the 

 same dimensions above it might be comprised uiihiii the opening of 

 the lar^e arch of tie Barriere de I'Etoile!" Looking llitrefore at 

 Temple-bar, we may, without difficulty, form an adequate conception 

 of the vast scale of the French monument, particularly «litn we tale 

 into consideration its dimensions in regard to depth, which are sucli, 



