Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier holds an unidentified member of the French armed forces killed during the First World War, to symbolically commemorate all soldiers who have died for France throughout history. It was installed in Paris under the Arc de Triomphe on 11 November 1920, simultaneously with the interment of a British unknown soldier in Westminster Abbey, making both graves the first examples of a tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and the first to honour the unknown dead of the First World War.

The burial site, surrounded by black metal posts linked together by chains, consists of a slab of granite from Vire on which is inscribed the epitaph: Ici repose un soldat français mort pour la Patrie, 1914–1918. In 1923, an eternal flame was added, rekindled every day at 6:30 pm.