# Porte Saint-Martin

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Content updated: 2026-06-22

Porte Saint-Martin stands in Paris where Rue Saint-Martin, Rue du Faubourg Saint-Martin, Boulevard Saint-Martin, and Boulevard Saint-Denis meet. This triumphal arch rises eighteen metres above the surrounding streets. Pierre Bullet designed the monument for Louis XIV, who commissioned it to celebrate victories on the Rhine and in Franche-Comté. Its limestone and marble façade uses heavy rustication, with bas-reliefs set into recessed panels.

Built in 1674, the arch replaced a medieval gate within walls constructed under Charles V. Four reliefs turn royal victories into scenes featuring Mars, Hercules, Fame, a lion, and an eagle. On the northern side, one woman sits beside a lion, while Louis XIV drives back a German eagle. The southern panels show him as Hercules and Fame, including the presentation of keys at Besançon. Pierre Le Gros the Elder, Gaspard Marsy, Étienne le Hongre, and Martin van den Bogaert created these compositions. Bullet had studied under François Blondel, designer of the nearby Porte Saint-Denis. Restored in 1988, the monument remains one of Paris’s four triumphal arches. One southern scene presents Louis XIV as Fame receiving keys from a woman.

- City: [Paris](https://mytuur.com/en/city/paris/)

## Photos

- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_PorteSaintMartin_67853a47ebe7a333a71d3673_0.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Porte_Saint-Martin,_Paris_8_June_2014.jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_PorteSaintMartin_67853a47ebe7a333a71d3673_1.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Arc_de_triomphe_frontsimple.jpg)

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