The Arc de Triomphe was built by order of Napoleon I who, after the battle of Austerlitz, decreed that his soldiers should be honoured on their return to France. "You will only return to your homes through triumphal arches," he declared. He commissioned Parisian architect Jean-François-Thérèse Chalgrin, who carried out the work between 1806 and 1836. It was inaugurated on 29 July that year.