Paris under Napoleon Each of the twelve arrondissements had its own mayor, but their power was limited to enforcing the decrees of Napoleon's ministers. After he crowned himself Emperor on December 2, 1804, Napoleon began a series of projects to make Paris into an imperial capital to rival ancient Rome. He built monuments to French military glory, including the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, the column in Place Vendôme, and the future church of the Madeleine, intended as a temple to military heroes; and began the Arc de Triomphe. To improve the circulation of traffic in central Paris, he built a wide new
Emperor of the French Emperor of the French Emperor of the French (French: "Empereur des Français") was the monarch of the First French Empire and the Second French Empire. A title and office used by the House of Bonaparte starting when Napoleon was proclaimed Emperor on 18 May 1804 by the French Senate and was crowned emperor of the French on 2 December 1804 at the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, in Paris, with the Crown of Napoleon. The title emphasized that the emperor ruled over "the French people" (the nation) and not over France (the state). The old formula of "King of France"