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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The equestrian statue of Louis XIV, located at Place des Victoires in Paris, replaces several earlier monuments dedicated to the same sovereign. In 1686, a first statue on foot, carved by Martin Desjardins, was inaugurated to celebrate Louis XIV's military victories and the revocation of Nantes' edict. This monument, 22 meters high, represented the king crushing his enemies, symbolized by chained captives. It was destroyed during the French Revolution in 1792, and its bronze was melted to make cannons. The captives of the base, works by Desjardins, were preserved and are now on display at the Louvre Museum.

Between 1792 and 1822, the Place des Victoires successively hosted a wooden pyramid commemorating the victims of the Revolution, then a statue of General Desaix, melted in 1818 to restore the statue of Henry IV on Bridge Nine. The present statue, commissioned under the Restoration, was inaugurated on August 15, 1822. Directed by François-Joseph Bosio, it is inspired by the Falconet Bronze Horseman in St.Petersburg, representing Louis XIV as Roman emperor on a horse. The pedestal, designed by Jean-Antoine Alavoine, is decorated with bas-reliefs commemorating key events of his reign, such as the Passage du Rhin or the creation of the order of Saint-Louis.

The statue was restored in 2005 and listed as a historical monument in 1992. Two of the original bas-reliefs (La Conquest de la Franche-Comté and La Paix de Nijmegue), as well as two medallions, were removed from the pedestal and are preserved at the Louvre. The present monument still dominates the Place des Victoires, riding on the 1st and 2nd arrondissements of Paris, testifying to the successive tributes paid to Louis XIV throughout the centuries.

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