Porte+d'Aix



The Porte d’Aix is located in Marseille, France. The architect of the arch was Michael-Robert Penchaud (1772-1832) and the sculptors were Pierre-Jean David d’Angers (1788-1856), Etienne Jules Ramey (1796-1852). In 1784, the city produced a large profit from the resale of the land of the galleys of the Arsenal, so the aldermen decided to use this money to build an arch in honor of Louis XIV in memory of the peace that the war of American independence was ended with. However, the hesitation in the decision of where to put the arch caused a delay of the project and eventually fell to the revolution. It was revived in 1823 by Marquis de Montgrand, Mayor of Marseille, to honor the campaign of the Duke of Angouleme in Spain. The inscription on the top of the arch reads, "A LA REPUBLIQUE MARSEILLE RECONNAISSANTE", which when traslated says, "Marseille grateful to the Republic".
 * __History:__**



__**Inspiration:**__ The Porte d’Aix is meant to continue the ideals of the Roman Empire and show the social and utilitarian ideals of the Revolutionary period of the country. The sculptors of the arch took their inspiration from the Roman triumphal arch at Orange, built in southern France during the middle Ages. The Orange arch was built to honor the veterans of the Gallic Wars and was later restructured by Emperor Tiberius to commemorate victories of Germanicus on the German tribes located in Rhineland.

Both the Porte d’Aix and the Orange arch are triumphal archways. There are many triumphal arches in existence around the world. A triumphal arch is a monumental archway that is usually used to commemorate a notable victory in history.
 * __Triumphal Arch:__**



The Porte d’Aix is modeled after the Roman triumphal arch at Orange. The two monumental arches have many similarities in both architecture and historic background. The Orange arch is made up of three separate arcades that are open on both sides. The Porte d’Aix has one arcade throughout the monument. Arcades were popular tunnel-like arches that the Romans began to build when they had the invention of cement that made arch and dome building possible. Both of the structures have the same column architecture also. They are both Corinthian style columns, which was very popular in Roman architecture. Also, both arches show different sculptures and engraved pictures depicting different victories of that time period. This shows how much time and thought was put into the creating of the Porte d’Aix when it was decided that they would model it after the Arch at Orange. They many relations back to the classical Roman style of architecture in the Porte d’aix really shows how the architect and sculptors must have looked up to the Romans and their turning point in historic structural design. It shows how monumental the Romans made their time period that throughout history after them, and even to this day, architecture is still being modeled after their work.
 * __Critique:__**


 * __Bibliography:__**

"A&A | Porte D'Aix." // Art & Architecture //. Web. 04 Apr. 2011. .

"Arc De Triomphe - Porte D'Aix - Monuments - MARSEILLE ENVUES." // -= MARSEILLE. ENVUES =- Photographies Patrimoine Culture Image Ville //. Web. 04 Apr. 2011. .

"Dictionary - Definition of Triumphal Arch." //Webster's Online Dictionary - with Multilingual Thesaurus Translation//. Webster. Web. 04 Apr. 2011. .

Hitchcock, Henry Russell. "Architecture: Nineteenth and ..." //Google Books//. Google. Web. 04 Apr. 2011. .

Porte d'Aix. Digital image. //Arc De Triomphe - Marseille (France)//. Flickr, 2008. Web. 4 Apr. 2011. .

Porte d'Aix. Digital image. //La Porte D’Aix à Marseille//. 27 June 2009. Web. 4 Apr. 2011. .

Roman Triumphal Arch at Orange. Digital image. //The Visual and Critical Studies Blog//. School of Visual Arts. Web. 4 Apr. 2011. .

Sullivan, Mary Ann. "Roman Triumphal Arch: South Facade." //Bluffington University// . Bluffington University, 2008. Web. 4 Apr. 2011. .