Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Lion de Belfort de Paris is a piece of repelled copper plate created by Auguste Bartholdi, located in the centre of the Place Denfert-Rochereau in the 14th arrondissement. Replies to a third of the original Belfort Lion (cut into the rock), it is 4 meters high for 7 meters long. The sculpture symbolizes Colonel Denfert-Rochereau's heroic resistance during the siege of Belfort during the Franco-German War of 1870. His gaze is turned to the Statue of Liberty, another creation of Bartholdi located in the 15th arrondissement.

Presented out of competition at the Salon de sculpture in 1878 as a plaster model, the monument was acquired in 1880 by the city of Paris for 20,000 francs. Originally planned for the Buttes-Chaumont, it is finally installed in Denfert-Rochereau Square after a petition from the inhabitants of the 14th arrondissement. A bronze medallion representing Denfert-Rochereau, added in 1920, was withdrawn under Vichy's regime for metal mobilization and replaced in 1979.

The Lion of Belfort Paris has been listed as a historical monument since 17 June 2003, with a protection amendment in 2004. He embodies a symbol of resistance and local pride, as evidenced by the writings of Henri Calet or the poem by Jacques Charpentreau. Its pedestal and its location make it a central point of the memory of the 1870 war in the capital.

The sculpture is made of repelled copper plates, a typical 19th century technique for outdoor monuments. Its inauguration in 1880 coincided with a period of national reconstruction after the defeat against Prussia. The choice of copper, a durable material that was vulnerable to requisitions (as in 1940), reflects the memory and material stakes of the time.

External links