1840, France, The July Column, Jean-Pierre Montagny, Bronze Medal.

France, Louis-Philippe 1er, Inauguaration de la colonne de juillet, gravée par Jean-Pierre Montagny, 1840 AD.,
Médaille de bronze (26 mm / 8,43 g),
Obv.: LOUIS PHILIPPE I - ROI DES FRANCAIS / MONTAGNY , profil de Louis Philippe tourné vers la gauche portant une couronne de chêne.
Rev.: AUX COMBATTANTS DE JUILLET 1789 ET 1830 / 28 JU.LEY - 1840 / MONTAGNY F. , la Colonne de Juillet.
.

Die Julisäule (Colonne de Juillet) ist ein Denkmal auf dem Place de la Bastille im 11. Arrondissement von Paris. Sie erinnert an die „drei glorreichen Tage“ (27.–29. Juli) der Julirevolution im Jahr 1830, die in Frankreich zum Sturz von Karl X. und zur Einsetzung des „Bürgerkönigs“ Ludwig Philipp („Julimonarchie“) führte.
Bereits 1792 bestand ein ähnliches Vorhaben. Der Bau der Säule in der gegenwärtigen Form wurde 1833 von Ludwig Philipp in Auftrag gegeben. Die Einweihung fand 1840 statt. Auf der Säule sind in Gold die Namen der Pariser Bürger eingraviert, die während der Julikämpfe ums Leben kamen. Die blattvergoldete Figur von Auguste Dumont soll den Geist der Freiheit (Le Génie de la Liberté) darstellen. Der Sockel war ursprünglich zu Zeiten Napoléons I. geschaffen worden, um eine Fontäne mit der Skulptur eines Elefanten im Zentrum aufzunehmen. Der Elefant der Bastille beherrschte auch, als 24 m hohes Gipsmodell, für einige Jahrzehnte den Platz, musste aber dann, baufällig geworden, der Julisäule weichen.
Die Signatur MONTAGNY bezeichnet den Medailleur Jean-Pierre Montagny (1789-1862), der Medaillen für die Pariser Münze schnitt.

Jean-Pierre Montagny est l'un des plus prestigieux graveurs de la Monnaie de Paris au XIXème siècle. Il est né en 1789 à Saint-Etienne et décédé à Belleville en 1862.
Il réalisa de nombreux coins sur les principaux évènements de la première moitié du siècle. Sa production la plus intense concerna la Révolution de 1848. Ses médailles ont été frappées sur des flans en bronze, cuivre ou étain.
Le 28 juillet 1840, la colonne commémorative des évènements de 1830 est inaugurée à Paris. Commencée en 1833, elle ne fut achevée qu'en 1840.
Les restes des victimes, inhumés provisoirement dans divers lieux parisiens, furent transférés dans un caveau sous la colonne.
La colonne a été réalisée par tronçons en fonte. Elle est surmontée du Génie de la Liberté.

The July Column (French: Colonne de Juillet) is a monument to the Revolution of 1830. It stands in the center of the Place de la Bastille, in Paris, to commemorate the Trois Glorieuses, the "three glorious" days in July 1830 that saw the fall of Charles X of France and the commencement of the "July Monarchy" of Louis-Philippe.
The Colonne de Juillet is composed of twenty-one cast bronze drums, weighing over 163,000 pounds; it is 154 feet (47 m) high, containing an interior spiral staircase, and rests on a base of white marble ornamented with bronze bas-reliefs, of which the lion, by Antoine-Louis Barye is the most noted. The French cockerels at the corners are also by Barye.The column is engraved in gold with the names of Parisians who died during the revolution. Over the Corinthian capital is a gallery 16 feet (4.9 m) wide, surmounted with a gilded globe, on which stands a colossal gilded figure, Auguste Dumont's Génie de la Liberté (the "Spirit of Freedom"). Perched on one foot in the manner of Giambologna's Mercury, the star-crowned nude brandishes the torch of civilisation and the remains of his broken chains. Formerly the figure also appeared on French ten-franc coins.
The monument, in an elaboration of a Corinthian column, was designed by the architect Jean-Antoine Alavoine, following a commission from Louis-Philippe: the Place de la Bastille was officially selected as the site, 9 March 1831, and the Citizen-King placed a first stone on 28 July 1831, the anniversary of the revolution that brought him to power; a hymn with words by Victor Hugo and music by Ferdinand Hérold was sung at the Panthéon on the occasion. It was constructed by Alavoine's partner in the project, Louis Duc. The Colonne de Juillet was inaugurated 28 July 1840. Music composed for the occasion was Hector Berlioz' Symphonie Funèbre et Triomphale, which was performed in the open air under the direction of Berlioz himself, leading the procession of musicians which ended at the Place de la Bastille. Jean-Pierre Montagny issued commemorative medals on the occasion.
Alavoine's elaboration of a Corinthian capital 5 metres across, was cast in a single fonte
A first project for a commemorate column, one that would commemorate the Fall of the Bastille, had been envisaged in 1792, and a foundation stone was laid, 14 July 1792; the project never got further than that. The circular basin in which its socle stands was realised during the Empire as a fountain with an elephant in its centre. The elephant was completed to designs by Percier and Fontaine in semi-permanent stucco, but the permanent bronze sculpture was never commissioned due to pinched finances in the latter days of the Empire. Its low base has been retained to support the socle of the column.
In the foundation, a columbarium was arranged to receive the remains of 615 victims of the July Revolution. A further 200 victims of the Revolution of 1848 were later interred in the space; the throne of Charles X was symbolically burned in the square, February 1848.
The column was the scene of the last desperate stand of the Communards in 1871.

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