Gezicht op Place de la Bastille in Parijs met de Colonne de Juillet c. 1850 - 1880

Captured by Étienne Neurdein, this photograph immortalizes the Place de la Bastille in Paris, dominated by the Colonne de Juillet. This fluted column erected between 1835 and 1840, stands as a symbol of liberty, but its roots are sunk deep in history. The column as a symbol of power reaches back to Trajan’s Column in Rome. It marks the triumph of Roman power and engineering, and the association of columns with victory and authority echoes through time. Here, in Paris, it commemorates the July Revolution of 1830. The revolutionaries may be gone, but this image ensures that their spirit – the pathos-laden formula of striving for liberty – persists. In the collective memory, it is linked to other revolutions, other columns, other cries for freedom. This column is more than stone and bronze; it is a conduit for the ever-surging tide of human aspiration.