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
Paris under Napoleon of the Revolution. These are the churches and convents half-ruined, dilapidated, abandoned. On their walls, as well as on a large number of public buildings, you can read: "National Property for Sale"."" The words could still be read on the facade of Notre Dame, which had been saved, in 1833. When Napoleon was crowned Emperor in Notre Dame Cathedral in 1804, the extensive damage to the building inside and outside was hidden by curtains. On July 15, 1801, Napoleon signed a Concordat with the Pope, which allowed the thirty-five surviving parish churches and two hundred chapels and other religious institutions