The Monument aux Girondins is a public monument in Bordeaux, located at Place des Quinconces. It was erected between 1894 and 1901 to honor the Girondin deputies who were victims of the Terreur. In Bordeaux, it is commonly called the colonne des Girondins or the monument des Girondins. The monument is classified as a historical monument.
Its history began with a project proposed by architect Julien Guadet in 1868 for Place Dauphine in Bordeaux, a site associated with the last executions of Girondin deputies in 1794. The project was shown at the Salon de Paris in 1870. Later, Jules Labatut and Pierre Esquié received first prize in 1888 for the project Alta fa qui pot, though it was not realized. A revised project, Gloria victis, by Alphonse Dumilatre and Henri Deverin, was retained after revision by Dumilâtre and Victor Rich. Bordeaux then combined the Girondins monument and a fountain project into a single monument-fountain for Place des Quinconces, with two basins added to the design.
Nearby Objects
-
Place des Quinconces 90 m away -
Place de la Comédie 300 m away -
Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux 300 m away -
Église Notre-Dame de Bordeaux 350 m away -
Hôtel Saige 350 m away
The Monument at Place des Quinconces
The Monument aux Girondins is located in Bordeaux, at Place des Quinconces. It was erected between 1894 and 1901 to honor the Girondin deputies who were victims of the Terreur. In Bordeaux, it is commonly called the colonne des Girondins or the monument des Girondins. The monument is classified as a historical monument, underlining its recognized heritage status.
From Project to Monument-Fountain
The history of the Monument aux Girondins began with an architectural proposal by Julien Guadet in 1868 for a monument to the Girondins at place Dauphine in Bordeaux, a site associated with the last executions of Girondin deputies in 1794. The project was shown at the Salon de Paris in 1870. Later, in 1888, Jules Labatut and Pierre Esquiie received first prize for the project Alta fa qui pot, although it was not realized. Another project, Gloria victis by Alphonse Dumilatre and Henri Deverin, was retained after revision by Dumilatre and Victor Rich.
At the same time, Bordeaux was also considering a monumental fountain by Bartholdi for place des Quinconces. Although completed in 1888, this fountain was rejected by the city council because of its high cost, and it was later acquired by Lyon and installed at place des Terreaux. Bordeaux then combined the Girondins monument and fountain concepts into a single monument-fountain for place des Quinconces. Dumilatre and Rich's project was adapted by adding two basins.
The chosen site was place des Quinconces, at the intersection of its longitudinal axis and the extension of cours du -Juillet. The municipal council approved funding on January 6, 1891, construction began in 1894 with a 20 meter wooden scaffold, and the work ended in 1902. The monument remained incomplete, as two groups of eight deputy statues were never made and their pedestal places are still empty. One group was to include Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud, Francois Buzot, Jerome Petion de Villeneuve, and Charles Jean Marie Barbaroux, while the other included Elie Guadet, Armand Gensonne, Jean-Antoine Grangeneuve, and Jean-Baptiste Boyer-Fonfrede.
Removal and Return of the Bronze Ornaments
During the mobilization of non-ferrous metals for melting and shipment to Germany, the removal of the monument's bronze ornaments was decided. The city received compensation of 1.5 million francs for this removal, which began around mid-year. The ornaments were sent to the Savigner foundry in Angers, where the founder preserved them before returning them to the city on an unspecified date. They were then stored in the autonomous port warehouses and later moved to 25 avenue du docteur Schinazi, at the foot of the Aquitaine bridge.
The removal left the monument incomplete for a long period. In 1968, an association was formed to demand the reinstallation of the bronze ornaments. After a press campaign, the ornaments were reinstalled in 1983. One element did not return: the statuette representing Liberty, Equality and Fraternity on the sphere in the right hand of the seated Republic statue of the southern fountain disappeared, probably stolen.
The Commemorative Plaque
In 1989, for the bicentennial of the Storming of the Bastille, a commemorative plaque engraved with the names of eight Girondin deputies was installed on the monument. The names on the plaque differed from the initial project and identified the eight Girondin party members who were deputies of the Gironde department. Only five of the eight deputies from the originally planned two statue groups appear on the plaque. The names of Francois Bergoeing, Jean-Francois Ducos, and Jacques Lacaze replaced Barbaroux, Buzot, and Petion. The latter three were deputies from Bouches-du-Rhone, Eure, and Eure-et-Loir, respectively, and had died tragically in the Gironde department after trying to take refuge there following Guadet. Seven of the deputies named on the plaque died executed, while Francois Bergoeing died naturally in Bordeaux in 1829. Bergoeing was also a member of the Committee of General Security.