The Battle of the Arcole Bridge and the Capture of Alexandria

The reliefs on either side of the rear arch show major victories from Napoleon's Italian and Egyptian campaigns.

On the right is "The Battle of the Arcole Bridge," part of the French Revolutionary Wars, fought in 1796 at Arcole in northern Italy between French and Austrian forces. In the relief, Napoleon charismatically leads his troops across the bridge. In reality, he is said to have been covered in mud and blood on the battlefield.

On the left is "The Capture of Alexandria," showing French troops fighting the Ottoman Turks in Alexandria, Egypt. At the left of the relief, General Kléber, who led the battle, clutches his head after a gunshot wound to the forehead, yet keeps commanding his troops to the end.

You may have noticed how prominent the Egyptian campaign is in these reliefs. It meant a great deal to Napoleon. With its hieroglyph-covered murals and monumental architecture like the pyramids, ancient Egypt was an object of fascination for Alexander the Great, Roman emperors and many other European rulers, and a land they dreamed of conquering. It was no different for Napoleon, who brought scholars to Egypt to study it and carried home countless artifacts, as you can see in the Louvre.

Having subdued both Rome, capital of the old Roman Empire, and Egypt, the land he so admired, Napoleon must have felt immense pride. That, as mentioned earlier, is why the Arc was built: to showcase Napoleon's heroic stature.