Colonne Vendôme

At the centre of the elegant Place Vendôme, this triumphal column was raised by Napoleon to celebrate his victory at the Battle of Austerlitz, its spiralling bronze reliefs cast from captured enemy cannon. A statue of the emperor in classical dress stands atop the shaft, echoing the ancient Column of Trajan in Rome. The monument was toppled during the Paris Commune of 1871, an event that implicated the painter Gustave Courbet, before being re-erected. Today it presides over a square lined with luxury jewellers.