Charlemagne et ses leudes

Charlemagne et ses leudes stands on the plaza before Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris’s fourth arrondissement. This monumental bronze group shows Charlemagne beside Roland and Oliver, his watchful guards. Louis and Charles Rochet created the sculpture in the late nineteenth century, casting it at the Fonderie Thiébaut Frères. Charlemagne appears elderly, wearing an imperial crown and holding a sceptre associated with Charles V.

The Rochet brothers first conceived the project in 1853 for Aachen, then presented a plaster version at the 1867 Universal Exposition. The completed bronze appeared at the 1878 Universal Exposition before reaching Paris in 1882. Eugène Viollet-le-Duc recommended its installation, and the city later replaced its wooden pedestal with stone in 1908.

Roland and Oliver’s alert poses evoke their legendary deaths at Roncevaux Pass. The scene deliberately joins objects from different centuries, turning Charlemagne’s image into political symbolism. His raised “French” sceptre above the “German” crown makes the message especially theatrical.