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Statue of General Rapp in Colmar dans le Haut-Rhin

Patrimoine classé
Patrimoine urbain
Statue
Haut-Rhin

Statue of General Rapp in Colmar

    Place Rapp
    68000 Colmar
Statue du général Rapp à Colmar
Statue du général Rapp à Colmar
Statue du général Rapp à Colmar
Statue du général Rapp à Colmar
Statue du général Rapp à Colmar
Statue du général Rapp à Colmar
Statue du général Rapp à Colmar
Statue du général Rapp à Colmar
Statue du général Rapp à Colmar
Statue du général Rapp à Colmar
Statue du général Rapp à Colmar
Statue du général Rapp à Colmar
Statue du général Rapp à Colmar
Statue du général Rapp à Colmar
Statue du général Rapp à Colmar
Statue du général Rapp à Colmar
Statue du général Rapp à Colmar
Statue du général Rapp à Colmar
Statue du général Rapp à Colmar
Statue du général Rapp à Colmar
Statue du général Rapp à Colmar
Statue du général Rapp à Colmar
Statue du général Rapp à Colmar
Statue du général Rapp à Colmar
Statue du général Rapp à Colmar
Statue du général Rapp à Colmar
Statue du général Rapp à Colmar
Statue du général Rapp à Colmar
Statue du général Rapp à Colmar
Statue du général Rapp à Colmar
Statue du général Rapp à Colmar
Statue du général Rapp à Colmar
Statue du général Rapp à Colmar
Statue du général Rapp à Colmar
Statue du général Rapp à Colmar
Crédit photo : Poudou99 / aka Kootshisme - Sous licence Creative Commons

Timeline

Révolution/Empire
XIXe siècle
Époque contemporaine
1900
2000
1854
Command of the statue
31 août 1856
Inauguration in Colmar
1872
Threat of German destruction
30 août 1940
Destruction under occupation
6 août 1945
Historical monument classification
2 février 1948
Re-opening after restoration
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui

Heritage classified

Statue of General Rapp: by order of 6 August 1945

Key figures

Jean Rapp - General of the Empire Subject of the statue, Napoleonic hero.
Auguste Bartholdi - Sculptor Author of the statue, 20 years.
Jean Jules Marnier - Sponsor Colonel Recommanda Bartholdi for the project.
Édouard Stenzel - Sculptor restorer Repaired the statue in 1948.
Mathias Xavier Hatz - Base architect Designed the original pedestal.
Edmond Michelet - Minister of Army (1948) Present at the re-opening.

Origin and history

The statue of General Rapp in Colmar is a major work by sculptor Auguste Bartholdi, made between 1854 and 1856. Commanded at the age of 20 by Colonel Jean Jules Marnier, she represented Jean Rapp (1771–1821), a general of the Empire born in Colmar. Originally exhibited in the Champs Elysées during the Universal Exhibition of 1855, it was inaugurated on August 31, 1856 in Rapp Square. This bronze statue, 3.50 metres high, rests on a 4.20 metre granite base, decorated with the names of striking battles (Iena, Austerlitz, Moskova) and a famous quote from Rapp: "My word is sacred", pronounced during the siege of Dantzig in 1813.

During the German annexation of Alsace in 1872, the monument barely escaped destruction. In 1940, under the occupation, the statue was overthrown and restored in 1948 by Édouard Stenzel. It was reinaugurated on 2 February 1948 in the presence of Edmond Michelet (Minister of Army) and General de Lattre de Tassigny. Ranked a historic monument on August 6, 1945, this work marks Bartholdi's first public achievement, sunk by the Charnod foundry. The original base was designed by architect Mathias Xavier Hatz, while a moulding of the bust damaged in 1940 is preserved at the Bartholdi Museum.

A genealogical detail links Bartholdi and Rapp: General Edighoffen (1759–13), uncle of both men, was a common ancestor. Bartholdi made the model of the statue in his mother's Parisian house, rue Vavin, where he lived almost forty years. The statue symbolizes both the tribute to a child of Colmar and the early talent of his sculptor, before his later achievements as the Statue of Liberty.

External links