Welcome to the iconic République statue in the middle of Place de la République.
As hinted in its name, the statue has a close connection to the forming of the French Republic.
If you take a look at the statue, you will that the statue pictures a lady in heavy clothing,
holding a branch in her hand.
This lady is actually one of the major French symbols and she is named Marianne.
She can be found not only on this square, but in many different places such as on postal
stamps and on the French euro coins and represents France as a state and its values.
So why has this lady become a symbol of France and the republic?
Well during the Greek and Roman era, it was common to represent ideas and abstract entities
by either a god or a goddess.
This became less popular during the Middle Ages, but returned again during the Renaissance.
During the French revolution in 1789, liberty was obviously on the agenda.
Instead of representing liberty by a god or goddess, liberty became represented by an
ordinary woman, standing up for her rights.
She was often accompanied by various other French symbols, such as the Phrygian cap,
a cockerel or the tricolor cockade.
So why was it a female and not a man?
The most obvious reason was that in French, as in many other languages, many words have
a determined gender connected to them.
Liberty, together with for example justice and the republic itself, is seen as a feminine
word and they are all represented with female figures.
The origin of the name Marianne has long been debated and there are many suggestions as
to where the name comes from.
One of the most obvious ones is that since Marianne was a very common name during the
time, and since she was a symbol for freedom of the common people, the name proved suiting.
In general, Marianne is pictured in two ways.
Sometimes she can be seen fighting victoriously, often with a bare breast, wearing the Phrygian
cap and some other French symbol.
An example of this is in the classical painting "Liberty leading the people" in honor of the
July Revolution, where she can be seen standing on a pile of bodies, hold the French flag
while encouraging the people forward.
The other way Marianne is pictured is more conservative.
Here she is often rather quite, wears antiquity clothes which covers her chest and often carries
a wreath of wheat on her head.
By looking at the statue, I think you can guess which type of Marianne the statue is
based upon.
Marianne can also be found on the official French government logo.
The logo also features the French motto; "Liberté-Égalité-Fraternité" meaning "Liberty-Equity-Brotherhood".
If you take a closer look at the base of the monument, below the statue, you can find these
words written in the stone.
At the very base of the monument you can also see reliefs showing pictures of different
historic scenes from the creation of the republic, as a way to honor the ones who fought and
died for the republic.
The monument itself was built after a design competition had been held.
The objective of the competition was to create a new grand monument as a way to celebrate
the newly created French Third Republic and to honor the former Republics.
The competition was won by two brothers, Léopold and Charles Morice.
The former was responsible for the creation of the statue whereas the later created the
base.
The monument was inaugurated first in 1880 but with a gypsum model on top.
Later, in 1883, it was inaugurated another time and this time it had the final bronze
version on top, the very same that still stands today.