Monument to the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

The Monument des Droits de l'Homme et du citoyen is a small temple-like structure on the Champ de Mars, erected in 1989 for the bicentenary of the French Revolution and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. Architect Ivan Theimer combined classical Egyptian motifs with modern bronze figures and inscriptions of the rights articles. Columns, an obelisk and allegories of the virtues frame the central block. The style deliberately recalls the Enlightenment fascination with Egypt, which saw universal reason in symbols like pyramids and obelisks. Walking from the Eiffel Tower towards the Ecole Militaire you pass the monument almost inevitably, though most visitors give it only a glance. The bronzes reward closer inspection - Theimer treats the 1789 texts with both irony and reverence.