Shot from a circling aircraft somewhere above the 8th arrondissement, this stunning aerial photograph freezes Paris's most iconic intersection in interwar amber — the Arc de Triomphe at the center of the Étoile, twelve great boulevards radiating outward like spokes of an imperial wheel, period automobiles and a lone double-decker bus threading the roundabout below. Published by Aéro-Photo of 15 rue de Montmorency, Paris — a specialist firm that pioneered aerial postcard photography in France during the 1920s and 30s — the card is stamped Reproduction interdite (reproduction forbidden), reflecting the firm's fierce protection of its aerial imagery rights. The undivided address block and card stock suggest a 1930s production date. Napoleon's Arc, commissioned in 1806 to honor his Grande Armée, appears in its full symbolic glory from above.