The monumental statue by Bosio

This bronze statue, over four metres high and weighing almost 3 tonnes, was created by the sculptor François-Joseph Bosio. Commissioned under the July Monarchy at a time when the Empire was being rehabilitated, it dominated the site of the column from the top of the building from 1841 to 1959.

Badly damaged at the end of the Second World War, and bearing witness to the violence of the fighting, the sculpture was removed in 1959, when a lead case containing a copy of a poem by Victor Hugo was discovered inside. The poet had in fact been commissioned to write a song to celebrate the inauguration of the column in 1841. The poem was eventually rejected because the last three lines were deemed disrespectful to England, but it was clandestinely placed inside the sculpture itself before being sealed.

Come and discover the majesty of this statue of Napoleon in the pavilion at the entrance to the site of the Grande Armée column!