◄ Republique Statue, Paris [HD] ►

You are standing at the iconic République statue in the middle of Place de la République. As hinted by 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 see that it 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 a goddess, it 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 kukrul 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 feminine words and they are all represented by female figures. The origin of the name Marianne has long been debated and there are many suggestions as to where the name came from. One of the most obvious is that since Marianne was a very common name during the time and since she was a symbol of freedom and of the common people, the name proved suiting. In general, Marianne is pictured in two ways. Sometimes she can be seen as fighting victoriously, often with bare breasts, 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, holding the French flag while encouraging the people forward. The other way Marianne is pictured is more conservative. Here she is often rather quiet, 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, Equality, 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 base of the monument, you can also see reliefs showing pictures of different battles and historic scenes 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 grand new 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, Leopold and Charles Maurice. The former was responsible for the creation of the statue, whereas the latter created the base. The monument was inaugurated first in 1880, but with a gypsum model on top. Later, in 1883, it was inaugurated a second time, and this time with the final bronze version on top, the very same that still stands today.