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Commemorative column, Emile Chautemps Square

Emile Chautemps square is a square in Paris, located in the 3rd arrondissement.

This square is located between Boulevard de Sebastopol, rue Salomon-de-Caus, rue Papin and rue Saint-Martin, across the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts.

 
 
The garden was created in 1858 as part of the transformations of Paris during the Second Empire. First named square des Arts-et-Métiers (Square of Arts and Crafts), it was later renamed in honour of Emile Chautemps (1850-1918, doctor of medicine, deputy, senator, then minister). The park covers 4 069 m². The entrance is at 93bis Boulevard Sebastopol.

When Baron Haussmann was appointed prefect of the Seine in 1853, he brought Jean-Charles Alphand (French engineer 1817-1891) to Paris to entrust him with the direction of the Promenades and Plantations Department at the Paris City Hall. The square Emile Chautemps was created at the request of Baron Haussmann during the development of Boulevard de Sebastopol. It is one of Jean-Charles Alphand's twenty-four creations, designed in the French style, according to the will of Napoleon III.

On either side of the central aisle that leads to the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts, there are two basins decorated with bronze figures made in 1860. The first group representing commerce and the arts is the work of Augustus Ottin (1811-1890) and the second, representing agriculture and industry is the work of Charles Gumery (1827-1871).

In the centre there is a commemorative column  made of the granite of Jura, erected to honour the army of the East. The four faces of the base are adorned with shields made of stone of  Echaillon, on which is engraved the name of the battles:
 
  • Alma, September 20th, 1854
  • Inkermann, November 5th, 1854
  • Tchernaia, August 16th, 1855
  • Sevastopol, September 8th,1855
 
 
 Column of the granite of Jura erected to the glory of the Army of the Orient.

 
 
 
 
 
 
At the top of the column there was a bronze "Victory crowning the French flag" made by Gustave Crauk (1827-1905) in 1864. This statue was melted during the occupation in 1942.
Old postcard showing the commemorative column surmounted by "Victory crowning the French flag"
There exists in Valenciennes a column surmounted it seems of an identical sculpture (1902) which is also the work of Gustave Crauk.
 
The column of Valenciennes (1793), topped by an elegant statue of Gustave Crauk which looks like the statue
"Victory crowning the French flag"



 
Address: Emile Chautemps Square, 98 Bis Boulevard de Sebastopol 75003 PARIS
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