Source: Place de la Republique - here is a recent addition, by Edouard Leon Cortes (1882-1969), to our Available Online Inventory.
In 1878, the town council of Paris proposed the building of a monument in the center of the city to celebrate the power and glory of the French Republic. Haussmann designed a large square whose center would feature a monument with the statue of the Republic (1883), approximately 10 meters high. The statue, created by the French sculptor Jules Dalou (1839-1902), depicts the events from the history of the Republic; its right hand holds an olive branch, while its left holds the Tables of the Law. Around the center pillar are three stone pillars that symbolize Freedom, Equality, and Fraternity. The stone pedestal has twelve bronze low-reliefs, which are joined by rosettes. Each bronze represents a major event in the birth of the Republic between 1789 and 1880. At the foot of the monument lies a green bronze lion in front of a ballot box symbolizing the “vote for all.”