Colonne de la Grande Armée

In Paris, the Colonne de la Grande Armée has a spiral bronze relief recalling the glorious deeds of the French army. The column replaces an equestrian statue of Louis XIV which was destroyed in 1792 during the French Revolution. The present monument, 44m/144ft high, was erected by Napoleon in imitation of Trajan's Column in Rome. It is topped by a statue of Napoleon in the garb of a Roman emperor. In 1814 the original statue was melted down and the metal used for the statue of Henri IV on the Pont Neuf, to be replaced by a new one in 1833. In 1871, during the Paris Commune, the column was pulled down but was later re-erected with a copy of the statue of Napoleon.