Victory Arches

This Arch of Constantine is located a stones throw from the Colosseum.

I took this shot out the window of the Colosseum mid level before going down the stairs.

This photo makes the Arch of Constantine look taller than the Colosseum... but in actual fact it is about half as high.

When I was shooting this I was thinking, "When was this arch made?  This is similar to the Arch of Triumph in Paris.  Who was first?

So I went to our trusted friend Wikipedia.  This Arch of Constantine was built in AD 313... dedicated in 315.  It is 68 feet high, 85 feet wide and 24 feet deep.  It's about half as high as the one in Paris.

Shirley took this photo of the Arc of Triumph in Paris a couple of years ago.

It was commissioned by Napoleon in 1806... they took two years just to lay the foundations.  This one is huge in comparison to Constantine's.  It is 164 feet high, 148 feet wide and 72 feet deep.

Napoleon never saw it completed in his lifetime... it was dedicated in 1835.  Napoleon died in exile in 1821 and about 19 years after he died his remains were brought home to Paris and he passed thru under the arch.

Not to be outdone, President Kim wanted to get into the pissing contest and built his "Arch of Triumph" in Pyongyang, Korea.

His is 197 feet high and 164 feet wide and has dozens of rooms in it, observation platforms and elevators.  It was built in 1982 and holds the honours of being the largest/tallest Arch of Triumph in the world.

"The tallest  building in the world is now in Dubai, the biggest factory in the world is in China, the largest oil refinery in India, the largest investment fund in the world is in Abu Dhabi, the largest Ferris wheel in the world is in Singapore." -Fareed Zakaria

"Our goal is to make the best devices in the world, not to be the biggest." -Steve Jobs