Detail of the column at Place Vendôme, Paris, France.
Place Vendôme was laid out in 1702 as a monument to the glory of the armies of Louis XIV.
Napoleon erected the original column, modeled after Trajan's Column, to celebrate the victory of Austerlitz; its veneer of 425 spiraling bas-relief bronze plates were made out of cannon taken from the combined armies of Europe, according to his propaganda.
The original column had been removed in the mid-1800s. In 1874, the column was re-erected at the center of Place Vendôme with a copy of the original statue on top.