Thomas Jefferson
(c) Discover Paris!
A statue of Thomas Jefferson stands at the entrance to passerelle Léopold-Sédar-Senghor (formerly named pont de Solférino). The statue was erected on July 4, 2006, the 230th anniversary of American independence and the 180th anniversary of Jefferson’s death. According to the inscription on the base, it is a gift to the city of Paris from the Florence Gould Foundation, which supports French/American exchange and friendship, and Alec and Guy Wildenstein in memory of their father Daniel. The statue, sculpted by French artist Jean Cardot, depicts Jefferson holding a quill pen in his right hand and the original design of Monticello in his left. He is facing the Hôtel de Salm, the building whose construction he was able to observe from the south terrace of the Tuileries Garden across the river. Professing to be “violently smitten with the hotel de Salm,” Jefferson incorporated the design of its dome into the redesign of his house in Monticello when he returned to America.
We published a self-guided walking tour of the American Revolution in Paris in the July 2009 edition of Paris Insights. The walk traces a route connecting a number of sites in Paris that are associated with two of the USA’s founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. Access to the article that contains this walk, entitled The American Revolution in Paris—An Itinerary for American Patriots, is available to paid subscribers of our newsletter. To enter a subscription, click here.
