In 1982 the French president François Mitterrand announced a national design competition for this monument. The Danish architect Johan Otto von Spreckelsen’s design won the competition, and construction began in 1985. Paul Andreu was Spreckelsen’s associate when in 1986 Spreckelsen resigned and Andreu took over the project. For the next three years Andreu oversaw the design and construction of the arch.

The arch is shaped like a cube, with sides of length 110 meters. It is situated at one end of the Axe Historique, a line of monuments running through Paris. In the middle is the Arc de Triomphe and at the opposite end is the Louvre. Unfortunately, rail lines and tunnels forced the supporting pillars of the arch to stand slightly askew from the axis of the Axe Historique. However, it does reflect a slight skew in the Louvre at the opposite end.

In Spreckelsen’s design, the arch was built not as a tribute to any military victories. Instead, it was designed as a monument to humanity and humanitarian ideals. It was inaugurated in 1989, two hundred years after the French Revolution.