The Elephant of the Bastille was a monument in Paris which existed between 1813 and 1846. Originally conceived in 1808 by Napoleon I, the colossal statue was intended to be created out of bronze and placed in the Place de la Bastille, but only a plaster full-scale model was built. At 24 m (78 ft) in height, the model itself became a recognisable construction and was immortalised by Victor Hugo in his novel Les Misérables (1862) in which it is used as a shelter by the street urchin Gavroche. It was built at the site of the Bastille and, although part of the original construction remains, the elephant itself was replaced a few years later by the July Column (1835–40) constructed on the same spot.
A steel engraving of the plaster full-scale model.
View of the Elephant of the Bastille as it would have appeared in situ
1844 drawing showing rats running around on the statue
An 1865 illustration by Gustave Brion for Les Misérables
The Place de la Bastille is a square in Paris where the Bastille prison once stood, until the storming of the Bastille and its subsequent physical destruction between 14 July 1789 and 14 July 1790 during the French Revolution. No vestige of the prison remains.
The July Column, with the new pedestrian area at the south side (after the removal of the large road in 2019-2021)
"Prise de la Bastille" (1789), by Jean-Pierre-Louis-Laurent Houel
Siderograph (steel engraving) of the full-scale elephant to be built, by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin, 1830
Now with a pedestrian space at the south side of the monument