View of the 43.5-meter column built in honour of Napoleon I and his Great Army on Place Vendôme in Paris (1810). The column consists of a stone core wrapped with a 160-meter bronze spiral, cast from 1250 Austrian and Russian guns captured by Napoleon's army at the Battle of Austerlitz. It is decorated with a relief frieze illustrating the victory of the emperor over enemy troops. The column is crowned with a statue of Napoleon.
The Paris monument in honour of Napoleon in the form of a free-standing column is one of the most famous monuments of this type preceding the Bar Column in Rapperswil.