<P> For four years from 1882 to 1886, a monumental sculpture by Alexandre Falguière topped the arch . Titled Le triomphe de la Révolution ("The Triumph of the Revolution"), it depicted a chariot drawn by horses preparing "to crush Anarchy and Despotism". It remained there only four years before falling in ruins . </P> <P> Inside the monument, a permanent exhibition conceived by the artist Maurice Benayoun and the architect Christophe Girault opened in February 2007 . The steel and new media installation interrogates the symbolism of the national monument, questioning the balance of its symbolic message during the last two centuries, oscillating between war and peace . </P> <P> Beneath the Arc is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I. Interred on Armistice Day 1920, it has the first eternal flame lit in Western and Eastern Europe since the Vestal Virgins' fire was extinguished in the fourth century . It burns in memory of the dead who were never identified (now in both world wars). </P> <P> A ceremony is held at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier every 11 November on the anniversary of the armistice signed by the Entente Powers and Germany in 1918 . It was originally decided on 12 November 1919 to bury the unknown soldier's remains in the Panthéon, but a public letter - writing campaign led to the decision to bury him beneath the Arc de Triomphe . The coffin was put in the chapel on the first floor of the Arc on 10 November 1920, and put in its final resting place on 28 January 1921 . The slab on top bears the inscription ICI REPOSE UN SOLDAT FRANÇAIS MORT POUR LA PATRIE 1914--1918 ("Here lies a French soldier who died for the fatherland 1914--1918"). </P>

Who is buried under the arc de triomphe de l'etoile