July Column

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Victory column in Paris

title: "July Column" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["buildings-and-structures-completed-in-1840", "monuments-and-memorials-in-paris", "place-de-la-bastille", "monumental-columns-in-france", "terminating-vistas-in-paris", "1840-sculptures", "bronze-sculptures-in-paris", "statues-in-france", "19th-century-architecture-in-france", "outdoor-sculptures-in-paris"] description: "Victory column in Paris" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_Column" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Victory column in Paris ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox monument"]

Field	Value
name	July Column
native_name	Colonne de Juillet
image	File:Colonne de Juillet 972.jpg
caption	Jean-Antoine Alavoine's Colonne de Juillet (1835–1840) in 2007
location	Place de la Bastille, Paris, France
designer	Jean-Antoine Alavoine, Joseph-Louis Duc
type	Victory column
material	Bronze column on white marble base
height	47m
weight	163,000lbs
visitors_num	2,400
visitors_year	2022
begin	1835
complete	1840
dedicated	28 July 1840
dedicated_to	Commemoration of the July Revolution
::

The July Column (, ) is a monumental column in Paris commemorating the Revolution of 1830. It stands in the center of the Place de la Bastille and celebrates the Trois Glorieuses — the 'three glorious' days of 27–29 July 1830 that saw the fall of Charles X, King of France, and the commencement of the July Monarchy of Louis-Philippe, King of the French. It was built between 1835 and 1840.

History

A first project for one commemorative column, one that would commemorate the Fall of the Bastille, had been envisaged in 1792, and a foundation stone was laid, 14 July 1792; but the project never got further than that. The circular basin in which its socle stands was realised during the Empire as part of the Elephant of the Bastille, a fountain with an elephant in its centre. The elephant was completed to designs by Percier and Fontaine in semi-permanent stucco, but the permanent bronze sculpture was never commissioned due to pinched finances in the latter days of the Empire. Its low base has been retained to support the socle of the column.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/La_Marseillaise_Jean_Béraud,_1880.jpg" caption="[[Bastille Day]] 1880 in Paris by [[Jean Béraud]], with the July Column in the background."] ::

The monument, in an elaboration of a Corinthian column, was designed by the architect Jean-Antoine Alavoine, following a commission from Louis-Philippe: the Place de la Bastille was officially selected as the site on 9 March 1831, and the Citizen-King placed a first stone on 28 July 1831, the anniversary of the revolution that brought him to power; a hymn with words by Victor Hugo and music by Ferdinand Hérold was sung at the Panthéon on the occasion. The Colonne de Juillet was constructed by Alavoine's partner in the project, Joseph-Louis Duc. It was inaugurated 28 July 1840. Music composed for the occasion was Hector Berlioz's Grande Symphonie funèbre et triomphale, which was performed in the open air under the direction of Berlioz himself, leading the procession of musicians which ended at the Place de la Bastille. Jean-Pierre Montagny issued commemorative medals on the occasion.

In the foundation, a columbarium was arranged to receive the remains of 615 victims of the July Revolution. A further 200 victims of the Revolution of 1848 were later interred in the space; the throne of Louis-Philippe was symbolically burned in the square, in July 1848.

Description

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Genie_de_la_bastille2.jpg" caption="Génie de la Liberté}}"] ::

The Colonne de Juillet is composed of twenty-one cast bronze drums, weighing over 163000 lb; it is 154 ft high, containing an interior spiral staircase, and rests on a base of white marble ornamented with bronze bas-reliefs, of which the lion by Antoine-Louis Barye is the most noted. The roosters at the corners are also by Barye. The column is engraved in gold with the names of those who died during the July 1830 revolution. Over the Corinthian capital is a gallery 16 ft wide, surmounted with a gilded globe, on which stands a colossal gilded figure, Augustin's Génie de la Liberté (the "Spirit of Freedom"). Perched on one foot in the manner of Giambologna's Mercury, the star-crowned nude brandishes the torch of civilisation and the remains of his broken chains. Formerly, the figure also appeared on French ten-franc coins. Gustave Flaubert, in Sentimental Education, compares the statue to a large golden star shining in the east.

References

Baedeker, ''Paris and Its Environs'' 1874:61f.
Berlioz, ''Memoirs'' chapter 50, noted by [http://www.hberlioz.com/Paris/BPColJuillet.html The Hector Berlioz website].
"Jean-Pierre Montagny".
The sun is in the zodiac sign of [[Leo (astrology). Leo]] in July.
A commemorative plaque at the base reads "À la gloire des citoyens français qui s'armèrent et combattirent pour la défense des libertés publiques dans les mémorables journées des 27, 28, 29 juillet 1830".
A repetition is conserved at the [[Musée du Louvre]]: ([http://cartelfr.louvre.fr/cartelfr/visite?srv=car_not_frame&idNotice=2654 On-line catalogue entry])
Flaubert, ''L'éducation sentimentale,'' Gallimard, Paris, 1965 p.84

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