Strasbourg monument
![The Strasbourg monument by Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi (1834–1904) stands in Basel on the Centralbahnplatz near the Basel SBB train station and commemorates the Franco-Prussian War. The monument, created by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi in 1895, was donated by the French Baron Hervé de Gruyer as thanks for the Swiss help for the residents of Strasbourg, which was badly shelled in the Franco-Prussian War. The protective spirit of Strasbourg hands over the city personified as a woman (center) to the care of Helvetia, the allegory of Switzerland. The crying child represents the suffering of the civilian population.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b1/Basel_-_2017_-_Strassburger_Denkmal1.jpg/220px-Basel_-_2017_-_Strassburger_Denkmal1.jpg)
The Strasbourg monument in Basel stands on the Centralbahnplatz near the SBB train station and commemorates the humanitarian aid during the siege of Strasbourg (August and September 1870) in the Franco-German War .
The monument, created by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi in 1895, was donated by the French Baron Hervé de Gruyer as thanks for the Swiss support of the population of the heavily shelled French city of Strasbourg in neighboring Alsace . After tough negotiations, a delegation from the cantons of Basel-Stadt , Bern and Zurich had received permission from the Baden government to bring 1,400 women, children and old people from the besieged city (other sources name more) to Switzerland.
The group of figures depicts a winged genius leading the costume-wearing Alsatia, the allegory of Alsace, accompanied by a crying child, to Helvetia , the allegory of Switzerland. Helvetia holds a shield over the asylum seekers and takes the hand of Alsatia seeking help. The two relief panels on the base show the help for the Alsatian metropolis with the inscription: A la Suisse hommage reconnaissant d'un enfant de Strasbourg 1871 (German translation: "Doing Switzerland the honor, a Strasbourg child, 1871") and the historic journey with the millet porridge pot from 1576 with the inscription: Le culte des traditions d'amitié honore les peuples comme les hommes (German translation: "The practice of the traditions of friendship honors the peoples as well as the people."). A circumferential band of coats of arms shows the cantons of Switzerland.
The sculptor Bartholdi also created the colossal sculpture of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor (designed in 1870).
literature
For the location, the change from the churchyard - funeral park - Elisabethenanlage - Volksgarten see
- Othmar Birkner: Cemetery - Funeral Park - Volksgarten. In: Public Basel Monument Preservation (Ed.): Gardens in Basel. Basel 1980, ISBN 3-85556 , pp. 41–43.