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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Monument to the Republic, located in Place de la République in Paris, is a major work by sculptor Léopold Morice and architect François-Charles Morice, his brother. Inaugurated on 14 July 1883, he replaced the fountain of Château d ́eau and embodied an allegory of the French Republic, crowned with the Phrygian cap despite its official prohibition at the time. The 9.5-metre bronze statue, surrounded by three allegories (Freedom, Equality, Fraternity) and twelve high-reliefs tracing Republican events from 1789 to 1880, was melted by Thiébaut Frères, a renowned Parisian foundry.

The square, formerly called Place du Château-d'Eau, was a strategic crossroads of Paris, transformed under Haussmann. The contest for the monument, launched in 1878 by the radical city council, was designed to affirm the city's independence from the prefect of the Seine. The project of the Morice brothers, preferred to that of Jules Dalou (finally erected Place de la Nation), was chosen for his strong symbolism. A plaster model was inaugurated in 1880 before the final bronze version, three years later.

The stone pedestal, decorated with the coat of arms of Paris and medallions evoking the Labor and the Pax, also supports a bronze lion symbolizing universal suffrage (masculin at the time). In 1889, the square was renamed Place de la République, and the monument became a place of political gatherings, as in 1891 for tribute to the victims of Fourmies. Renovated in 2013 with the addition of a basin, it was also a spontaneous memorial after the attacks of 2015. Ranked a historic monument in 2021, it remains a living symbol of French Republican history.

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