July Column

July Column
Colonne de Juillet

The July Column (French: Colonne de Juillet) is a monument to the Revolution of 1830. It stands in the center of the Place de la Bastille, in Paris, to commemorate the Trois Glorieuses, the "three glorious" days in July 1830 that saw the fall of Charles X of France and the commencement of the "July Monarchy" of Louis-Philippe.

Contents

History

A first project for a commemorative column, one that would commemorate the Fall of the Bastille, had been envisaged in 1792, and a foundation stone was laid, 14 July 1792; the project never got further than that. The circular basin in which its socle stands was realised during the Empire as part of the Elephant of the Bastille, a fountain with an elephant in its centre. The elephant was completed to designs by Percier and Fontaine in semi-permanent stucco, but the permanent bronze sculpture was never commissioned due to pinched finances in the latter days of the Empire. Its low base has been retained to support the socle of the column.

Dumont's Génie de la Liberté

In the foundation, a columbarium was arranged to receive the remains of 615 victims of the July Revolution. A further 200 victims of the Revolution of 1848 were later interred in the space; the throne of Charles X was symbolically burned in the square, February 1848.

The column was the scene of the last desperate stand of the Communards in 1871.

Description

The Colonne de Juillet is composed of twenty-one cast bronze drums, weighing over 163,000 pounds (74,000 kg); it is 154 feet (47 m) high, containing an interior spiral staircase, and rests on a base of white marble ornamented with bronze bas-reliefs, of which the lion[1] by Antoine-Louis Barye is the most noted. The French cockerels at the corners are also by Barye. The column is engraved in gold with the names of Parisians who died during the revolution.[2] Over the Corinthian capital is a gallery 16 feet (4.9 m) wide, surmounted with a gilded globe, on which stands a colossal gilded figure, Auguste Dumont's Génie de la Liberté (the "Spirit of Freedom").[3] Perched on one foot in the manner of Giambologna's Mercury, the star-crowned nude brandishes the torch of civilisation and the remains of his broken chains. Formerly the figure also appeared on French ten-franc coins.

Architectural Design

The monument, in an elaboration of a Corinthian column, was designed by the architect Jean-Antoine Alavoine, following a commission from Louis-Philippe: the Place de la Bastille was officially selected as the site, 9 March 1831, and the Citizen-King placed a first stone on 28 July 1831, the anniversary of the revolution that brought him to power; a hymn with words by Victor Hugo and music by Ferdinand Hérold was sung at the Panthéon on the occasion. The Colonne de Juillet was constructed by Alavoine's partner in the project, Joseph-Louis Duc. It was inaugurated 28 July 1840.[4] Music composed for the occasion was Hector Berlioz' Grande symphonie funèbre et triomphale, which was performed in the open air under the direction of Berlioz himself, leading the procession of musicians which ended at the Place de la Bastille.[5] Jean-Pierre Montagny issued commemorative medals on the occasion.[6]

Alavoine's elaboration of a Corinthian capital 5 metres across, was cast in a single fonte

Notes

  1. ^ The sun is in the zodiac sign of Leo in July.
  2. ^ A placque at the base reads "À la gloire des citoyens français qui s'armèrent et combattirent pour la défense des libertés publiques dans les mémorables journées des 27, 28, 29 juillet 1830".
  3. ^ A repetition is conserved at the Musée du Louvre: (On-line catalogue entry)
  4. ^ Baedeker, Paris and Its Environs 1874:61f.
  5. ^ Berlioz, Memoirs chapter 50, noted by The Hector Berlioz website.
  6. ^ Jean-Pierre Montagny

External links

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Coordinates: 48°51′11″N 2°22′09″E / 48.85306°N 2.36917°E / 48.85306; 2.36917

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