.JPG) Monument à la République at the centre of the square, topped by a statue ofMarianne | |
  Shown within Paris | |
| Length | 283 m (928 ft) |
|---|---|
| Width | 119 m (390 ft) |
| Arrondissement | 3rd,10th,11th |
| Quarter | Arts-et-Métiers Enfants-Rouges Porte-Saint-Martin Folie-Méricourt |
| Coordinates | 48°52′02.20″N2°21′50.60″E / 48.8672778°N 2.3640556°E /48.8672778; 2.3640556 |
| From | Boulevard du Temple |
| To | Boulevard Saint-Martin |
| Construction | |
| Denomination | 7 May 1879 |
ThePlace de la République (French pronunciation:[plasd(ə)laʁepyblik]; English: Republic Square; known until 1879 as thePlace du Château d'Eau,[plasdyʃɑtodo]) is asquare inParis, located on the border between the3rd,10th and11tharrondissements. The square has an area of 3.4 ha (8.4 acres).[1][2] Named after theFirst,Second andThird Republics, it contains a monument, theMonument à la République, which includes a statue of the personification of France,Marianne.
TheMétro station ofRépublique lies beneath the square, served byLine 3,Line 5,Line 8,Line 9 andLine 11. It is one of the network's main transfer points on theRive Droite.
The square was originally called the Place du Château d'Eau, named after a huge fountain designed byPierre-Simon Girard and built on the site in 1811.[3] Émile de La Bédollière wrote that the water came fromla Villette and that the fountain was "superb" in character. In 1867,Gabriel Davioud built a more impressive fountain in the square, which (like the first fountain) was decorated with lions.[3] The square took its current shape as part ofBaron Hausmann's vastrenovation of Paris.[4] Haussmann also built new barracks on the cities, to garrison troops useful in times of civil unrest.[5]
Paris mayorBertrand Delanoë made a renovation of the Place de la République one of hiscampaign promises in the 2008 campaign for re-election.[6] The project involved the transformation of the square from a "glorified roundabout" into apedestrian zone, with 70% of the square's 3.4 hectares and surroundings roads being reserved for pedestrians.[6] TheParis City Council allocated twelve million euros for renovating the square in 2010, and the project began the same year.[7] The project was completed in 2013.[6][7] The total cost of the project was 20.4 millionGBP, about 5 million GBP over budget.[6] The renovation was a finalist for theEuropean Prize for Urban Public Space.[7] The pedestrian area now occupies "some two hectares in the sunniest part on the north-eastern side" while the "other third, to be used by vehicular traffic, is the shadier part on the south-western side."[7] The statue of Marianne was cleaned ofgraffiti and footprints as part of the renovations.[6]
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Afterterrorist attacks against France in January 2015, crowds gathered in the square to mourn and express solidarity against the threat ofIslamic extremism.[8] The French Interior Ministry estimated that as many as 1.6 million people participated, making it the largest demonstration in modern French history.[8] Crowds again rallied on the Place de la République following theNovember 2015 Paris attacks.[9]
In 2016, theNuit debout movement, which opposed the labour reforms of theEl Khomri law, began from anoccupation of the Place de la République.[10] In April 2019,Yellow Vest demonstrators clashed with authorities in the square in their 23rd week of protests and dissatisfaction overPresident Macron's government, the weekend following theNotre-Dame de Paris fire.[11][12][13]
At the center of the Place de la République is a 31 feet (9.4 m) bronze statue ofMarianne, the personification of the French Republic, "holding aloft anolive branch in her right hand and resting her left on a tablet engraved withDroits de l'homme (the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen)."[6] The statue sits atop a monument, theMonument à la République, which is 75 feet (23 m) high.[14] Marianne is surrounded with three statues personifyingliberty, equality, and fraternity, the values of the French Republic.[15] These statues also evoke the three medievaltheological virtues.[16] Also at the base is a lion guarding a depiction of aballot box.[17] The monument has been described as "an ordinary one, acceptable to a committee in the 1880s and inoffensively unarresting today."[1]
The monument was created by the brothers Charles andLéopold Morice. Leopold executed the sculptural segments, while Charles executed the architectural segments.[15] The monument was chosen as part of an art competition announced in early 1879 by the Paris City Council, which sought to create a "Monument to the French Republic" in honor of the 90th anniversary of theFrench Revolution, to be erected on the Place de la République.[18] The Morice statue was chosen by thejury, but a "vociferous minority opinion among jury members claimed precedence for the second prize", the submission ofJules Dalou, who had just returned from exile in England.[16] Dalou's statue, which was completely different in style, impressed the jury so much that it was decided in early 1880 to erect his monument to the Republic on the adjacentPlace de la Nation.[16] Two inauguration ceremonies for the Morice monument took place, the first on 14 July 1880 with agypsum model, and the second on 14 July 1883 with the final version in bronze.[19] The monument replaced the second fountain.[3]
The Place de la République is:
| Located near theMétro station: République. |
It is served by Lines3,5,8,9 and11.
Media related toPlace de la République (Paris) at Wikimedia Commons| International | |
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| Geographic | |
