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# This is how the Vendôme Column might have looked, erected by Napoleon in 1807 in honour of the victory at Austerlitz
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/tak-mogla-vygliadet-vandomskaia-kolonna-ustanovlennaia-napoleonom-v-1807-godu-v-chest-pobedy-pri-austerlitse-2/
- Published: 2025-03-26T13:38:02.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T05:30:42.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Architecture, Monarchies, Heritage, Paris

This is how the Vendôme Column might have looked, erected by Napoleon in 1807 in honour of the victory at Austerlitz. The associations are no accident: the form does indeed match the message.

The original in the end differs little from the prototype, save for a somewhat widened viewing platform at the, er... tip of the shaft, and a monument to Napoleon set at the very top of the column. The place de Vendôme had originally been occupied by a monument to Louis XIV, which was pulled down. The 44-metre column with its 76 bronze bas-reliefs was, according to legend, cast from Russian and Austrian cannon left on the fields of Austerlitz.

The first statue of Napoleon was taken down from the summit by the Allies who captured Paris in 1814, and the fleur-de-lis banner of the Bourbons was raised in its place. The melted-down Napoleon turned into Henry IV. In 1833 the Emperor would return to the column by decision of Louis-Philippe, and the new sculpture would prove so fine that in 1844 Napoleon III would order it moved beneath the roof of Les Invalides, close to the tomb of Napoleon I, and replaced by a copy.

In 1870 Courbet began to speak of moving the Vendôme Column from the square to the same place, to Les Invalides. His idea was to take an unexpected turn: in 1871 the monument would be toppled and demolished, the sculptures smashed and melted down. Parisians would have themselves photographed on the ruins and beside the empty pedestal.

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_15821@26-03-2025_16-38-02.jpg)