Location: Les Halles
Top Things to do in Les Halles
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The 10 Best Monuments & Statues in Les Halles, Ile-de-France
Lingering over pain au chocolat in a sidewalk café, relaxing after a day of strolling along the Seine and marveling at icons like the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe… the perfect Paris experience combines leisure and liveliness with enough time to savor both an exquisite meal and exhibits at the Louvre. Awaken your spirit at Notre Dame, bargain hunt at the Marché aux Puces de Montreuil or for goodies at the Marché Biologique Raspail, then cap it all off with a risqué show at the Moulin Rouge.
Restaurants in Paris
1. Sculpture Energies
2. Sculpture Ecoute
3. La Science
4. La Statue d'Aphrodite
5. Eurypile
6. L'Art Chretien
7. Statue Gaspard de Coligny
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 9 reviews
Reviewed By Rumples - Tucson, United States
I never would have noticed this monument had I not become curious about why a woman had a camera lens pointed through a barricade of wrought-iron bars. She stood on a sidewalk that parallels the rue de Rivoli and took many shots. Her subject turned out to be a tribute to Gaspard de Coligny, a 16th-century French nobleman, admiral and leader of the Protestant armies during the French Wars of Religion. The monument stands at the rear of Eglise Reformee de l’Oratoire du Louvre and is blocked from the sidewalk by a locked gate and the bars. I thought this 33-feet-high work, designed by Scellior de Gisors and sculpted by Gustave Crauk in 1889, was exceptional. Done in white marble, it features a statue of Gaspard in the admiral costume of the time with one arm across his chest and the hand over his heart and the other hand grasping a sword. Gaspard is flanked by two pillars with his name in gold letters above the statue and his birth and death years on the recessed wall behind him. The birth year of 1517 seems to be a mistake, since various sources list that as 1519. He died in 1572, murdered in what became known as the Saint Bartholemew’s Day Massacre. Two allegorical figures appear below the statue. The left signifies country and the right represents religion. An open book between the two depicts the Bible, which refers to its role in the Wars of Religion. The moment is quite close to the Louvre on the opposite side of the street so it would be easy to check out before or after visiting the museum.
