In front of you
opens the third square of the Louvre, known as the Place du Carrousel, and
formerly enclosed on its west side by the Palace of the Tuileries, which
was unfortunately burned down in 1871, during the conflict between the
Municipal and National authorities. Its place is now occupied by a garden
terrace, the view from which in all directions is magnificent. Fronting
you, as you sit, is the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, erected under
Napoleon I., by Percier and Fontaine, in imitation of the Arch of
Septimius Severus at Rome, and once crowned by the famous bronze Roman
horses from St. Mark's at Venice. The arch, designed as an approach to the
Tuileries during the period of the classical mania, is too small for its
present surroundings, since the removal of the Palace. The north wing,
visible to your right, is purely modern, of the age of the First and
Second Empire and the Third Republic. The meretricious character of the
reliefs in its extreme west portion, erected under the Emperor Napoleon
III., and restored after the Commune, is redolent of the spirit of that
gaudy period.
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