The Flame of Liberty (Flamme de la Liberté) in Paris is a gold-leaf-covered replica of the new flame at the upper end of the torch carried in the hand of the Statue of Liberty at the entrance to the harbor of New York City since 1986. The monument is a sculpture of a flame in gilded copper, supported by a pedestal of gray-and-black marble. It is located near the northern end of the Pont de l’Alma, in the 8th arrondissement of Paris.
It was offered to the city of Paris in 1989 by the International Herald Tribune to celebrate the newspaper's hundredth anniversary of publishing an English-language daily newspaper in Paris. More importantly, the Flame was a token of thanks for the restoration work on the Statue of Liberty accomplished three years earlier by two French businesses that did artisan work on the project. While the gift to France was prompted by the centennial of the newspaper, the Flame of Liberty is a lasting symbol of the friendship uniting the two countries, just as the statue itself was, when it was given to the United States by France. The monument was dedicated on May 10, 1989 by Jacques Chirac.
The Flame of Liberty
The flame sits above the exit to the Paris tunnel in which Diana, Princess of Wales, died.
On the base of the monument, a commemorative plaque says:
The flame became an unofficial memorial for Diana, Princess of Wales, after her 1997 death in the tunnel beneath the Pont de l'Alma.
The flame became an attraction for tourists and followers of Diana, who placed commemorative material on the base. Anthropologist Guy Lesoeurs said,
"Most people who come here think this was built for her."
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