Monument à Sadi Carnot

What you will see

Walk around the monument to read its figures. Carnot stands in white marble in the pose of an orator. Above him, a winged bronze Fame holds out a laurel wreath. At his feet are two allegories: History, a seated woman writing his name, by Moreau, and Grief, a veiled woman, by Gasq. On the back, against the shaft, is the altar of the Fatherland, topped by flames. On warm days the water jets around the base cool the whole square.

History

Sadi Carnot came from a family of Nolay, in the Côte-d'Or, and was the grandson of the revolutionary Lazare Carnot. He was elected president in December 1887 and was assassinated by an anarchist on 24 June 1894, during an exhibition in Lyon. A few weeks later, the Dijon town council decided to raise a monument to him on Place de la République, laid out at the edge of the old ramparts and named in 1888. It was paid for by public subscription and built in 1898.

President Émile Loubet unveiled it on 21 May 1899, when he came to award the Legion of Honour to the city for its resistance in the war of 1870. The architect Félix Vionnois designed the pylon. The marble statue of Carnot is by Mathurin Moreau, and the bronze Fame at the top is by Paul Gasq. When the square was redesigned for the new tram in the early 2010s, a large pool with water jets, lit at night, was added around its base.