The City Gates of Louis XIV

Abstract

This article details a study of some forty examples of city gates and shows that the cultural institutions of Louis XIV developed a nationwide classical language for the design of arches, emulating antique and Renaissance forms. On one hand, an academic style, and on the other a military style, were exhibited in classically designed arches and ornamented with carefully guided sculptural iconography and inscriptions. Both were particularly strong forms of royal propaganda. Gates, far from being an isolated phenomenon, were part of a larger artistic mission. Studying their design may revise our understanding of royal squares. More detailed study of gates' decorative programs would allow a more subtle understanding of their place in the vast program of cultural propaganda of Louis XIV, disseminated throughout the interior and the borders of his realm.