The Arc de Triomphe (1922)

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On Kiseleff Boulevard, the main access route to Bucharest, the visitor encounters a meaningful monument, the Bucharest Arc de Triomphe. It was erected in 1922 to celebrate the Romanian army’s victories in WWI and the Great Unification of 1918. King Ferdinand and Queen Maria of Romania, accompanied by General Berthelot and the suite, were enthusiastically received by the people while they made their triumphal entry in Bucharest a day after the coronation ceremony as King and Queen of Reunited Romania took place at Alba Iulia (Transylvania), passing beneath the Arc. Temporarily, the arch was made of wood and stucco, and a few years later it was replaced by the stone arch we can see today. On the South façade there are two bronze medallions featuring King Ferdinand and Queen Maria. On one of the façades is inscribed the King’s Proclamations to the Country on the occasions of the war and of the coronation at Alba Iulia:

“After centuries of sufferings faithfully endured and hard struggles for the preservation of national being, … the justice was fulfilled for Romanian people by the sword of King Ferdinand with the help of the whole nation and the thought of Queen Mary.”