Description of the attraction
The Vendome Column, towering on the square of the same name, was erected by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1810 in honor of the victories won by his Great Army in the Austrian campaign of 1805 (it is described by Leo Tolstoy in War and Peace).
At first, Napoleon was going to transport the Roman Trajan's column to Paris on this occasion. However, its transportation proved to be a daunting task, and the emperor ordered the development of an original project.
The architects Honduin and Leper worked on the project. The column turned out to be about 44 meters high and 3, 67 meters wide at the base. Its body is cast from metal of 1,250 cannons captured by the French at Austerlitz from the Austrians and Russians. The side surface is entwined with a spiral, which depicts numerous scenes of battles. Inside the monument there is a staircase leading to the upper landing. There, the authors of the project put a statue of Napoleon in the toga of the Roman emperor and in a laurel wreath.
The figure of the emperor stood on the column for four years - with the capture of Paris by the allies and the return of the Bourbons, it was melted down into a statue of King Henry IV (installed on the New Bridge). After the July Revolution, King Louis-Philippe I ordered Bonaparte to be returned to the column, but this time in a cocked hat and a marching frock coat. Napoleon III in 1863, fearing for the safety of the statue, ordered to remove it and move it to the House of Invalids, and make a copy for the column. The original of this extremely expressive sculpture is still kept in the House of Invalids.
Dramatic events unfolded around the Vendome Column in the days of the Paris Commune. The artist Gustave Courbet, Commissioner for Culture, demanded to move the column to a deserted place. But it was decided to destroy the "monument to barbarism." A crowd of twenty thousand gathered to overthrow the colossus. The ropes were torn, the winches were breaking. Then the column collapsed to the sound of the Marseillaise and shattered into pieces.
After the suppression of the Commune, the government restored both it and the old statue of Napoleon in a toga. The authorities ordered Gustave Courbet to pay all restoration costs. All of the artist's property was sold, he died in poverty.
