The Arch of Triumph, located in the North area of Bucharest, on the Kiseleff road, is a symbol of the Great Union, but the story of building the Arch of Triumph is a complex one. Up to the current version of the Arch of Triumph, five similar constructions have been built for various events such as the Revolution of 1848, the Union of the Romanian Principalities of 1859, the achievement of the State Independence in 1878, the jubilee of the 40 years of King Carol I's reign in 1906 and the Great Union of 1918, as well as the return of the royal family from the exile in Iasi.
All these buildings had a temporary character and it was not until after World War I that the decision to build a permanent building, one rising to the level of Arch of Triumph in Paris, was made.
The Arch of Triumph, which was supposed to be the symbol of the Great Union forever, was designed by the architect Petre Antonescu and built between 1918 and 1922 from very poor quality materials that did not withstand the rain and weather, the construction thus becoming the shame of Bucharest. Only in 1935 the Arch of Triumph returns to the attention of the authorities and, with financial help from various organizations and from the capital city's population, a new design of the monument begins, this time involving many Romanian architects and 10 sculptors brought from Italy. The stone from which the Arch of Triumph was built was brought from all the historical regions of Romania.
Thus, on December 1st, 1936, 18 years after the Great Union, takes place the inauguration of the Arch of Triumph, the variant that we know today. The moment was marked by the participation of King Carol II, his mother, Queen Mary, the heir prince, Mihai, members of the Romanian government and many honorary guests from the country and abroad.
After the Communists came to power in Romania, the Arch of Triumph was "mutilated" by removing from the side parts the two texts of King Ferdinand's proclamation to the country, as well as the effigies of the royal family, which were replaced by some flowers. However, the texts were added back during the reconsolidation of the Arch of Triumph in 2014-2016.
The Arch of Triumph is a point of attraction and a landmark, sheltering a small museum that can only be visited on certain occasions. The Arc of Triumph has the shape of a parallelepiped, 27 meters high and a foundation of 25 x 11.5 meters.
Along the Alba Iulia Cathedral, the Marasesti Mausoleum, the Heroes' Cross on Caraiman Peak, and the Carol I Park Mausoleum, the Arch of Triumph is one of the monuments commemorating Romania's participation in World War I, at the end of which all the territories inhabited by the Romanians were for the first time reunited.