Flame of Liberty / Flamme de la Liberté (Paris)
N 48° 51.851 E 002° 18.052
31U E 448725 N 5412593
...not exact replica of whole Statue of Liberty in NYC, but the exact replica of the top of its torch - it is famous "Flame of Liberty" in Place de l'Alma in Paris.
Waymark Code: WM8ARB
Location: Île-de-France, France
Date Posted: 03/02/2010
Views: 140
"Flame of Liberty" - it is an exact, gold plated, replica of the one atop the Statue of Liberty's torch. The Flame was actually placed here by Paris-based US companies in 1987 on the centenary of the International Herald Tribune newspaper as a symbol of friendship between France and the USA.
On the base of the monument, a commemorative plaque recounts the following story:
"The Flame of Liberty. An exact replica of the Statue of Liberty's flame offered to the people of France by donors throughout the world as a symbol of the Franco-American friendship. On the occasion of the centennial of the International Herald Tribune. Paris 1887-1987."
In August 1997 in the underpass parallel to the Seine, Diana, Princess of Wales, was killed in a car accident, with her partner Dodi Fayed, and their chauffeur. The bronze "Flame of Liberty" became something of a memorial to Diana and was decorated with flowers, photographs, graffiti and personal notes for almost five years. "Flame of Liberty" was renovated and cleaned in 2002 and, this being the age of short (or no) memories, there are no longer any reminders of the tragedy that happened so close by and had so much of the Western world in grief at the time.