Bastille Elephant
The Bastille Elephant (French: Éléphant de la Bastille ) was a symbol of Paris that existed from 1813 to 1846 .
history
Napoleon Bonaparte initially wanted to have his triumphal arch built on the site of the demolished Bastille , but in 1806 the decision was made for the current location in the middle of the Place de l'Étoile .
The foundation stone for a fountain system on the Place de la Bastille was laid by Interior Minister Cretet on December 2, 1808. In a letter to Cretet dated December 21, 1808, the emperor then expressed very specific ideas about the appearance of the colossal statue of an elephant that was supposed to stand in the center of the water surface. With a decree of February 9, 1810, the emperor finally ordered a monumental fountain in the form of a bronze elephant to be poured on the square. Jean-Antoine Alavoin (1777–1834) was appointed as the architect . The metal was supposed to come from the cannons captured by the Spanish insurgents. The elephant was supposed to squirt water from its trunk and wear a tower-like saddle as a lookout point. At the personal request of the emperor, it should also stand in the middle of a larger, circular body of water. A similar project had already been carried out in 1758 under Louis XV. passed.
However, the unveiling of the finished statue, scheduled for the end of 1811, did not take place. The sculptor Pierre-Charles Bridan first had to create a model out of wood and plaster ("50 feet long and 45 high"). This was set up on the edge of the square and became the real elephant of Bastilleplatz from 1814 to 1846.
After the fall of Napoleon, the Minister of the Interior ordered the cessation of work on the monument on July 4, 1815. The restoration had other plans for the Place de la Bastille, which was now called Place Saint-Antoine. Among other things, a group of statues of the kidnapping of Europe by Jupiter as a bull or a statue of Louis XVIII. considered as a patron of the arts and industries. The elephant was also reconsidered. Meanwhile, the summit elephant still dominated the east side of the square, for example in the area of today's Opéra Bastille . He was mentioned in travel guides, in Franz Grillparzer's travel diaries, with Honoré de Balzac and he also appears twice with Heinrich Heine . Regardless of individual votes in favor of maintaining the project, the construction of the July column was decided instead and it was unveiled on July 28, 1840.
The summit elephant, standing on the edge of the square since 1814, still existed for some time. However, it was less valued by the neighbors because it supposedly served as a shelter for light-shy rabble.
On June 19, 1846, the Prefect of Paris ordered the demolition of the dilapidated summit elephant, which was inhabited by numerous rats. By September, a symbol of Paris disappeared. Victor Hugo set him a literary monument in 1862 and made him the residence of the heroic street boy Gavroche and the setting for one of the scenes in his novel Les Misérables (Part 4, Book 6).
Heinrich Heine on the discussions about the elephant
“ Paris, July 29, 1842: The parish council of Paris has decided not to destroy the elephant model that stands on Bastilleplatz, as was initially intended, but to use it for a cast in ore and the emerging monument at the entrance to the Barrière du To set up Trône. The people of the Faubourgs Saint-Antoine and Saint-Marceau speak almost as much about this municipal decision as the higher classes about the question of regency. That colossal elephant made of plaster of paris, which was erected during the imperial era, was later to serve as a model for the monument that was intended to be dedicated to the Julius Revolution on Bastille Square. Since then people changed their minds, and the great Julius Column was erected to glorify that glorious event. But the removal of the elephant caused great concern. For there was an uncanny rumor among the people that an enormous number of rats had taken up residence inside the elephant, and it was to be feared that if the great plaster beast was torn down, a legion of small but very dangerous monsters would emerge that would spread through the Faubourgs Saint-Antoine and Saint-Marceau. All petticoats trembled at the thought of such danger, and even the men were seized with an uncanny fear of the invasion of those long-tailed guests. The most submissive presentations were made to the magistrate, and as a result of these, the tearing down of the great summit elephant, which had remained quiet for years on Bastille Square, was postponed. Strange country! Where, despite the general desire for destruction, some things are still preserved, since one generally fears the worse things that could take their place! How much they would like to tear down Ludwig Philipp, that big, clever elephant, but they fear Se. Majesty the sovereign rat-king, the thousand-headed monster who would then come to the government, and even the noble and spiritual enemies of the bourgeoisie, who are not exactly blinded, seek for this reason to keep the July throne; only the very limited, the gamblers and cardsharps among the aristocrats and clericals, are pessimists and speculate on the republic, or rather on the chaos that is likely to arise immediately after the republic. "
literature
- Yvan Christ: Paris des Utopies , Paris 1970 (French)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Heinrich Heine : Essays II, About France . Part 2: Lutetia, Section L.