Altaplana, world of Francois Schuiten and Benoit Peeters

the impossible & infinite encyclopedia of the world created by Schuiten & Peeters

User Tools

Site Tools


Main menu

Main menu

Browse dictionary

Browse in logical order:
Persons | Cities | Albums | More topics

Browse in chronological order:
Timeline | Obscure Timeline | New pages

Browse in alphabetical order:
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | XYZ

Altaplana.be the offical site about François Schuiten and Benoît Peeters

Visit also

Visit Catalogue

Visit Office of Passages

Visit Atlantic 12

Visit Fonds Schuiten

Lion of Belfort statue

The Lion of Belfort is a bronze sculpture by Auguste Bartholdi situated at the middle of the square of Place Denfert-Rochereau in Paris (14th arrondissement). It is a smaller replica of the monumental statue carved out of the rock below the castle of Belfort 1).

The statue is 4m high and 7m long and is one third the size of the original statue in Belfort.

Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi, who is actually most famous for being the sculptor of the Statue of Liberty, presented the scale model of the Lion of Belfort in plaster at the 1878 Paris Salon, and this was subsequently purchased by the city of Paris for the sum of 20,000 French Francs.

The Lion of Belfort symbolises the resistance of Colonel Denfert-Rochereau during the siege of Belfort (1870-1871). The heroic resistance echoed all around France and exemplified French courage and honour. Bartholdi, a native from Colmar in Alsace, described his monument as “a colossal lion, harried, driven back and still terrible in his fury”.

The Lion of Belfort can also be found in the second album of Revoir Paris. It looks to be at the edge of the preserved Paris 2).