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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The wooden pyramid of Vincennes, also known as the obelisk of Louis XV, was erected in 1731 in the heart of the Bois de Vincennes, then at the edge of the communes of Vincennes and Fontenay-sous-Bois. Commanded by King Louis XV, it commemorates the reforestation of wood led by Alexandre Claude Lefebvre de la Faluère, Grand-Maître des Eaux et Forêts. Lobelisque, pyramidal in shape and decorated by the Slodtz brothers, also served as a landmark for hunters and travelers thanks to its summital globe surmounted by a cross indicating the cardinal points. It is surrounded by six stone terminals to protect it from collisions with the carriages.

In 1799, after the assassination of the French plenipotentiaries at the congress in Rastatt, the obelisk was restored and his globe painted in black with the inscription "Vengeance!". Ranked a historic monument in 1946, it was restored again in 1858 and 1982. The monument gives its name to the crossroads of the Pyramid and the adjacent road, while the local legend associates it with the oak under which Saint Louis did justice in the 13th century, although this anecdote is not historically verified.

The obelisk, of a rustic order, presents four rock cartridges: two carry the arms of France, and the other two a Latin inscription recalling the reforestation of 1731, the name of Lefebvre de la Faluère and that of Louis XV. The mascarons of the base, pouring water, evoke a symbolic fountain. The top, with a golden bronze needle, makes it a geographical landmark, a role confirmed by the addition of an NGF levelling marker by the IGN in the 1960s.

The monument appears in artistic works, as a painting by Maurice Chabas (1902) for the Vincennes Town Hall, classified as a historical monument in 1982. This painting, which emerged from a municipal competition in 1898, testifies to the cultural importance of the obelisk, also represented in sketches held at the Petit Palais. The obelisk remains a symbol of the wood of Vincennes, linked to its forest history and its role in Parisian urban planning.

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