In the Arc du Carrousel

In the Arc du Carrousel

The Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, which greatly needed it, is being restored thanks to the the “Tous mécènes !” (“Become a patron”) campaign at the Louvre. Screens printed with its likeness conceal the scaffoldings on all sides. I have just spent a beautiful sunny autumn morning at the worksite. I went up all the stories. I caressed the bas-reliefs and cornices while having their meticulous craftsmanship explained to me by workers who are replacing the pollution-damaged Oise stone and sculpting new friezes. On one of the bas-reliefs, here is Napoleon entering Munich in 1805 and bringing the king of Bavaria back by hand, sculpted by Clodion. Since this bas-relief is on the west side, the marble has been more exposed to the elements and less well-preserved than the precious lace of the prelates on Napoleon’s entering Vienna, by Deseine, which faces north toward rue de Rivoli. We climb down a metal ladder that leads to the heart of the edifice, in a space unexpected from the outside. The arch holds up the quadriga of the Horses of Saint Mark, not the ones returned to Venice after 1815, but a replica. I will speak another time of the very damaged sculptures of the Old Guards on the upper floor, and the copies that are being made of them in the workshops at the foot of the arch.