Monument aux morts de la guerre franco-prussienne

The monument you are approaching at the Père Lachaise cemetery is a solemn tribute to the soldiers who perished during the grueling Siege of Paris in 1870 and 1871. Completed in 1879, this structure serves as a monumental ossuary, a final resting place designed to honor both the officers and the common soldiers who defended the city during that conflict. Its design features four distinct bronze statues positioned at the corners, each representing a different type of fighter: the Garde mobile, the fusilier marin, the artilleur, and the regular soldier. These figures stand as a physical record of the diverse groups of men who participated in the defense of the capital, a period marked by intense starvation and hardship that eventually led to the collapse of the Second Empire and the birth of the Third Republic.