Triumphal Arch of Orange

The town of Orange lies in the département of Vaucluse, in southern France. The warmest city in France, Orange is renowned for its Roman architectural marvels, which includes the best preserved Roman theatre in Europe. Also notable among the tourist attractions in Orange is the Triumphal Arch of Orange - a fine triumphal arch (Arc de Triomphe) built during the reign of Augustus.

Enlisted by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1981, the Triumphal Arch of Orange in France is among the prime tourist attractions in France. Built sometime during the 1st century as a tribute to Augustus, the Triumphal Arch of Orange is a Roman masterpiece of architecture and sculpture. The arch was incorporated into the town wall of Orange in the middle ages. It was much later in the 19th century that the Triumphal Arch was restored to its original state.

Smaller in size than the Triumphal Arch in Paris, the Triumphal Arch of Orange is nonetheless an equally spectacular work of art. Even till date, the arch is well preserved, with the numerous engravings and friezes remaining remarkably intact.

Tourist Attractions in France
Canal du Midi	Cathedral of Amiens
Church of Saint-Savin sur Gartempe	Cistercian Abbey of Fontenay
Decorated Grottoes of the Vézère Valley	Palace and Park of Fontainebleau
Place Stanislas	Royal Saltworks at Arc-et-Senans
Scandola Nature Reserve	Triumphal Arch of Orange
Vézelay, Church and Hill

History has it that the Triumphal Arch of Orange was built to commemorate the first conflict in France between the Romans and the Celts. The arch is believed to have been built by Julius Caesar in 49BC. It was restored and embellished by Tiberius in 25 A.D. the length, breadth and height of the arch are 90 meters, 8 meters and 18 meters respectively.

The prominent features of the Triumphal Arch of Orange are its three arches, rosettes, tympanum, and the images of the sea, which demonstrate the supremacy of the Romans in the sea. On your tour to Triumphal Arch of Orange, you would find that although the ornamentation of the arch is Greek, the basic structure is Roman. The rocks used for building the arch were so perfectly cut that mortar was not needed as a binding material.

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