Brief reminder of Part 1 (without mistake )
For this Parisian bridge, two elements commemorate the battle of Crimea in 1854 : Alma, the name of a river in this region, and Zouave, identifying the Imperial Guard regiment that distinguished itself by taking cannons from the Russian enemy. Four statues were placed on the two piers of this bridge in memory of the victorious armies : artilleryman, foot hunter, grenadier and zouave.
The Zouaves were infantry soldiers of the French army based in North Africa. They were recognisable by their surprisinly military uniform of bagy trousers, white gaiters, a long belt, a short jacket, a headdress with a tassel and a turban.
The name ' Zouave ' is an old name for the Kabyle.
He was represented by a stone soldier, create by Georges Diebolt, a French sculptor, trained at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
In 1970, when renovations to the bridge begin due to ground subidence, the statues were moved. As soon as the new bridge was built, only the Zouave was replace and its companions were dispersed to several French cities. This decision is explained by the catastrophic flood of 1910, when only the head of the Zouave was out of the water and became a mesuring instrument to follow the evolution of the oveflows. Thus, as soon as the Seine covers its feet, it is declared to be in flood.
The Zouave has become an essential statue in the Parisian landscape. It is a symbol of bravery during the Crimean War, and has also become the yardtick for measuring the inbalances of the Seine. |
