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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The July column, located in Place de la Bastille in Paris, was erected between 1835 and 1840 to commemorate the Three Glories (27-29 July 1830), a revolution that overthrew Charles X and established the July monarchy under Louis-Philippe I. The monument, inspired by the Trajane column, was designed by Jean-Antoine Alavoine and completed by Joseph-Louis Duc after his death. Its bronze barrel bears the names of the 504 victims of 1830, while its top is decorated with the Genie de la Liberté (1839), sculpture by Auguste Dumont symbolizing freedom breaking its chains.

The base of the column, built on the unfinished foundations of the fountain of the Napoleonic Elephant (1808-1814), houses a necropolis containing the remains of the revolutionaries of 1830, transferred from the Jardin de l'Infante, as well as 196 victims of the riots of 1848. The monument was inaugurated on 28 July 1840 with a grandiose ceremony including the Great Funeral and triumphal symphony of Hector Berlioz, led by the composer himself. The column, 50.52 meters high, became a major republican symbol, especially during the Paris Commune (1871), where it was a gathering place despite attempts at lenient destruction.

Ranked a historic monument in 1995, the column underwent restorations, one in 2018-2021 allowing the partial opening of its bases to the public. However, full access (240 steps) is still prohibited for security reasons. The Genie de la Liberté, reproduced on the ten-franc coin (1988-2001) and copied for the Columna de la Independencia in Mexico (1910), embodies the revolutionary legacy of the monument. The column replaces several aborted projects, such as the Elephant of the Bastille (a plaster maquette destroyed in 1846) or the Regeneration Fountain (1793), symbol of revolutionary festivals.

During the revolution of 1848, the throne of Louis-Philippe was burned at his feet, and 196 new bodies were buried there. Under the Commune, the Place de la Bastille and its column became a stronghold of the federated, although controversial sources evoke an attempt at destruction by explosives carried through the Saint Martin Canal. Today, the monument, served by the metro Bastille, remains a central place of memory in French political history, mixing art, architecture and republican symbolism.

Artists associated with the column include Jacques-Louis David (Fontaine de la Régeneration), Antoine-Louis Barye (Lion sculptures), and Auguste Dumont (Genie de la Liberté). Significant anecdotes include suicides from its peak (from 1841) or its appearance in works such as Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, where Gavroche lives in the plaster elephant. The basement, crossing the Canal Saint-Martin, also mistakenly houses Egyptian mummies transferred from the Louvre.

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