It’s intriguing the way some things stand up to the endless test of time. It’s not necessary to know the name of this giant arch to recognize it as significant. Its stature is naturally grand, and the promenade leading to its sweeping curve spreads like a solid red carpet. It’s all part of why the Arc De Triomphe is a truly classical piece of architecture and design, recognizable in images spanning across decades of photographic evidence.

The real magic in images like this one is the way it instantly pulls us back through time, depositing each of us in a completely different era and place. Young trees with rich green leaves spreading upward to the sun, the cars a living banner of the time’s transportation as people pass by on bike and foot create a sense of what this notable place was like in decades gone by. The only thing that remains in some way familiar to our modern sense of place is the arch standing tall before us with its carefully carved design, a recognizable piece even to those who cannot call it by name.

It’s an enjoyable phenomena, the ability of photos to transport us to places we may never physically go. The way a place can be memorialized until it feels familiar even if the only visit we ever made was through a printed image. We might not be able to travel in time, but a picture like this makes it feel like it just could be a possibility.