{"id":76229,"date":"2025-11-25T15:20:34","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T14:20:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.napoleon-cologne.fr\/?p=76229"},"modified":"2025-12-17T09:46:19","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T08:46:19","slug":"the-vendome-column-austerlitz-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.napoleon-cologne.fr\/en\/the-vendome-column-austerlitz-battle\/","title":{"rendered":"The Vend\u00f4me Column"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row row_height_percent=”0″ overlay_alpha=”50″ gutter_size=”3″ column_width_use_pixel=”yes” shift_y=”0″ z_index=”0″ content_parallax=”0″ uncode_shortcode_id=”124543″ column_width_pixel=”900″][vc_column width=”1\/1″][vc_custom_heading text_color=”color-150243″ text_size=”h1″ text_weight=”300″ text_height=”fontheight-1-6″ separator=”yes” sub_reduced=”yes” uncode_shortcode_id=”116483″ text_color_type=”uncode-palette”]What a remarkable tale that of the Vend\u00f4me Column! Erected, toppled, rebuilt; one day an Emperor\u2019s pedestal, the next a standard-bearer of royalty. From pride to regret, from Austerlitz to the Commune, this column has never ceased to stir passions.[\/vc_custom_heading][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”161570″]Rome, AD 107: the Roman Emperor Trajan (53\u2013117) commissions a marble column to celebrate his armies\u2019 victories over the Dacians. Placed at the centre of the Roman Forum, it recounts, upon a spiralling frieze of sculpted bas-reliefs, the principal episodes of the Dacian Wars (101\u2013102 and 105\u2013106). Completed in 113, it is crowned with a bronze statue of the Emperor. The sculpture later disappears, and from 1587 onward it is Saint Peter who rises in its stead.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image media=”76234″ caption=”yes” media_lightbox=”yes” media_width_percent=”100″ lbox_title=”yes” lbox_caption=”yes” uncode_shortcode_id=”128491″][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”274752″]Paris, 1798: the architect Bernard Poyet declares that \u201cThe republican regime must replace the effect of steeples with columns, obelisks, and monuments whose elevation, attesting to the glory of the Nation under the reign of Reason, shall equal at least those towers and spires once raised by fanatics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Austerlitz, 2 December 1805: the Russian and Austrian armies of the Third Coalition are defeated by Napoleon I. Their artillery pieces are seized. They will now serve a project worthy of Antiquity itself\u2014a monument commensurate with the glory of the Grande Arm\u00e9e, and in keeping with the principles proclaimed by Bernard Poyet.[\/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text_color=”color-150243″ heading_semantic=”h3″ text_size=”h4″ text_height=”fontheight-168105″ uncode_shortcode_id=”181680″ text_color_type=”uncode-palette”]In Memory of the Brave[\/vc_custom_heading][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”894170″]On 21 March 1800, a first decree announced the erection, \u201cin every d\u00e9partement, upon its principal square, of a column in memory of the brave of the d\u00e9partement, who died in defence of the fatherland and of liberty.\u201d
\nThe project was perhaps too ambitious; though not realised everywhere, it took on formidable proportions at the heart of the capital. For the \u201ccolumn of the brave\u201d was already underway when Napoleon won the Battle of Austerlitz<\/a>. Yet the work advanced slowly, materials were lacking, and the timely capture of Austrian and Russian cannons rekindled the enterprise as much as it transformed it.<\/p>\n

Vivant Denon, director of the Mus\u00e9e Napol\u00e9on (now the Louvre), already oversaw the project. Architects Jean-Baptiste Lep\u00e8re and Jacques Gondouin were called upon to bring to life this immense column, destined to reach a height of 44 metres.<\/p>\n

The painter Pierre-Nolasque Bergeret was charged with designing the bas-reliefs to be sculpted upon 425 bronze plaques, winding upward as on Trajan\u2019s Column. They depict the Boulogne camp facing England, the army\u2019s departure, its battles, and the Emperor\u2019s triumphant return to Paris on 16 January 1806.<\/p>\n

At its summit, like its ancient ancestor, the modern column would be crowned with a statue of the Emperor\u2014Napoleon I. The sculptor Antoine Chaudet represented Bonaparte as a Roman emperor, crowned with laurel, a winged Victory in his left hand and a lowered sword in his right. [\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image media=”76236″ caption=”yes” media_lightbox=”yes” media_width_percent=”100″ lbox_title=”yes” lbox_caption=”yes” uncode_shortcode_id=”190666″][vc_custom_heading text_color=”color-150243″ heading_semantic=”h3″ text_size=”h4″ text_height=”fontheight-168105″ uncode_shortcode_id=”711453″ text_color_type=”uncode-palette”]A Memorable Anniversary[\/vc_custom_heading][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”684020″]The Vend\u00f4me Column was at last inaugurated on 15 August 1810, the anniversary of Napoleon Bonaparte\u2019s birth\u2014a date he no doubt hoped would anchor the monument in eternity. History, however, had other plans. Barely five years later, on 12 April 1814, the Emperor abdicated, and his adversaries hastened to pull down his statue from atop the column, raising in its place the fleur-de-lys banner of Louis XVIII and the restored monarchy.La colonne Vend\u00f4me est enfin inaugur\u00e9e le 15 ao\u00fbt 1810, le jour de l\u2019anniversaire de Napol\u00e9on Bonaparte qui l\u2019esp\u00e8re sans doute install\u00e9e pour l\u2019\u00e9ternit\u00e9. C\u2019est sans compter les vicissitudes de l\u2019Histoire ! Moins de cinq ann\u00e9es plus tard, le 12 avril 1814, l\u2019Empereur abdique et ses adversaires s\u2019empressent de faire tomber sa statue au sommet de la colonne, pour hisser \u00e0 sa place le drapeau fleurdelys\u00e9 de Louis XVIII qui marque la Restauration du pouvoir monarchique \u00e0 la t\u00eate de la France.<\/p>\n

The \u201cLittle Corporal\u201d was exiled to Saint Helena<\/a>, yet the distance that was meant to dull his memory only served to kindle the legend of the fallen Emperor. Upon the announcement of his death<\/a>, his popularity proved far too great to ignore. Louis-Philippe seized the opportunity to win favour by placing atop the column a new statue\u2014not of the Emperor, but of the Little Corporal himself, the soldier-leader and military genius in his eternal bicorne, hand tucked into his waistcoat.
\nThis bronze figure by Charles-\u00c9mile Seurre, now housed at the Invalides, continues to impress visitors with its bearing and presence. Why, then, did it leave the column? Because Napoleon III\u2014at once nephew and grandson (through his maternal grandmother Jos\u00e9phine) of the first Emperor\u2014ascended the throne in 1852 and wished for his illustrious predecessor a representation that did not obscure his political role in the nation\u2019s history. Seurre\u2019s Napoleon thus yielded, in 1863, to the sculpture by Auguste Dumont. Yet again, this would not last.[\/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text_color=”color-150243″ heading_semantic=”h3″ text_size=”h4″ text_height=”fontheight-168105″ uncode_shortcode_id=”158069″ text_color_type=”uncode-palette”]The Fall of the Vend\u00f4me Column[\/vc_custom_heading][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”122856″]The Franco-Prussian War brought about the downfall of Napoleon III\u2019s government; he was taken prisoner on 3 September 1870. The new authorities rejoiced too soon, for the Paris Commune, between March and May 1871, overthrew both the National Defence Government and the Vend\u00f4me Column itself. The monument was denounced as a \u201csymbol of brute force and false glory\u201d and, after great difficulty, was sawn down on 16 May\u2014only to be swiftly regretted. [\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image media=”76238″ caption=”yes” media_lightbox=”yes” media_width_percent=”100″ lbox_title=”yes” lbox_caption=”yes” uncode_shortcode_id=”153874″][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”113331″]The Third Republic ordered its restoration and re-erection, placing the cost of this colossal work upon the painter Gustave Courbet, unjustly accused of having ordered its destruction. The bill was steep: over 320,000 francs, payable in annual instalments of 10,000 francs for 33 years. Too great a sum for one man: Courbet died on 31 December 1877, before paying even the first instalment of this accursed column, which once again towered over the Place Vend\u00f4me from 18 December 1875 onward.<\/p>\n

From Austerlitz to the Place Vend\u00f4me, the column witnessed as many victories as defeats\u2014those of nations as well as individuals. Classified as a Historic Monument since 31 March 1992, it remains today an unmistakable landmark of the Parisian landscape, as surely as the Alexandre III Bridge. Though it cannot be visited, one should know that the staircase within leads to a terrace offering one of the most splendid views of Paris. [\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image media=”76240″ caption=”yes” media_lightbox=”yes” media_width_percent=”100″ lbox_title=”yes” lbox_caption=”yes” uncode_shortcode_id=”699772″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What a remarkable tale that of the Vend\u00f4me Column! Erected, toppled, rebuilt; one day an Emperor\u2019s pedestal, the next a standard-bearer of royalty. From pride to regret, from Austerlitz to the Commune, this column has never ceased to stir passions. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76236,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"The Vend\u00f4me Column","_seopress_titles_desc":"What a remarkable tale that of the Vend\u00f4me Column! Erected, toppled, rebuilt; one day an Emperor\u2019s pedestal, the next a standard-bearer of royalty. From pride to regret, from Austerlitz to the Commune, this column has never ceased to stir passions.","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[137],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.napoleon-cologne.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.napoleon-cologne.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.napoleon-cologne.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.napoleon-cologne.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.napoleon-cologne.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76229"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blog.napoleon-cologne.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76307,"href":"https:\/\/blog.napoleon-cologne.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76229\/revisions\/76307"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.napoleon-cologne.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.napoleon-cologne.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.napoleon-cologne.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.napoleon-cologne.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}