Small Statue of Liberty

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In 1885, Americans living in Paris offered a small replica of the Statue of Liberty (the one that stands in New York Harbor) to the city. Today this replica stands next to the Pont de Grenelle, a modern bridge crossing the Seine River near the Radio France building. This is a picture of that replica, taken from the southwest. As far as I know, it is identical to the original in New York, except for its size (it is only about ten metres high, five times smaller than the original), and the inscription on the tablet held in the statue’s hand, which says both IV JUILLET 1776 and XIV JUILLET 1789 (the respective dates of U.S. and French revolutions, in French), instead of IV JULY MDCCLXXVI.

You can see the Eiffel Tower in the background; it is about 1500 metres away. The bridge behind the statue is the Pont de Grenelle, a modern structure that connects the Front de Seine area with the Right Bank. Behind the camera is the open water of the Seine River. The photo was taken in the early evening on a summer day.

If you've ever seen Roman Polanski's spy thriller Frantic (with Harrison Ford), the final shootout of that movie was filmed at the base of this statue, along a pathway called the allée des Cygnes (“Promenade of the Swans”), of which I have a picture.

There's a truly tiny Statue of Liberty in the Luxembourg Gardens, also—and I have a photo of that as well, if you are interested.

Photographed on June 29, 2001.