Place du Châtelet

The Place du Châtelet is a public square in Paris, France, on the Right Bank of the river Seine on the border of the 1st and 4th arrondissements.

At plaza's centre is La Fontaine du Palmier, constructed 1806-1808 by François-Jean Bralle (1750-1832) to celebrate French victories in battle. It is a circular basin, 20 feet in diameter, from which rises a column in the form of a palm tree's trunk (58 feet tall), surmounted by a gilded figure of Victory with laurel crown in each upraised hand, and resting on a base ornamented with bas-relief eagles. Four allegorical figures byLouis-Simon Boizot (1743-1809) ring the base: Prudence, Temperance, Justice, and Strength. From top to bottom, circles of bronze gilt call out the following battles: Siege of Danzig (1807, Prussia), the Battle of Ulm (1805, Austria), the Battle of Marengo (1800, Italy), the Battle of the Pyramids (1798, Egypt), and theBattle of Lodi (1796, Italy). Its sphinxes were designed in 1858 by Gabriel Davioud and sculpted by Henri Alfred Jacquemart (1824-1896); they commemorate Napoleon's victory in Egypt.