4.6.15

Human rights...


The above picture shows one of many “details” on a somewhat surprising monument to be found at the Champs-de-Mars. This is a partial copy of the preamble of "The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen” from 1789. The monument, referred to as the “Monument des Droits de l’Homme” (Human Rights), was ordered by the City of Paris for the bicentenary of the 1789 Revolution and consequently has been standing here since 1989.  

In front of one side of the monument you can find some bronze sculptures – a man wearing a toga, a woman with a child with a newspaper hat -, and two obelisks, all covered with a multitude of signs, symbols, texts…  






The creator of the monument,  Ivan Theimer, has made a number of references to Freemasonry and “Novus Ordo Seculorum” (New order of the ages), a text which also appears on the Great Seal of the United States as well as on the one-dollar bill. There may be some obvious reasons for these Freemasonry references. The Human Rights as they were established in a rather contemporary way through “The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen” in France in 1789, “The Virginia Declaration of Rights” and “The Declaration of Independence” were of course heavily influenced by what is referred to as “The Enlightenment”, inspired by 17th and 18th century philosophers and thinkers, often active as freemasons. Thomas Jefferson, who spent the pre-Revolutionary years 1784-89 in Paris is of course an obvious link between the French and the American declarations. Was he a freemason?  

Through the triangle I could take a photo of the inner side of the door, which you can find on the opposite side of the monument. The round opening is the entrance to what has become the home of pigeons. Some tennis players have tried to aim the opening (and the pigeons?), not always successfully.

On the sides you can find the names of some European capitals. It seems to correspond to member states of the European Union in 1989.   

The Champs-de-Mars may give the impression of being just a large field, however don’t forget to visit the calmer and much greener sidewalks.






4 comments:

Anonymous said...


If it were not for you, telling us about this monument standing there since 1989, I would've thought, judging from its style to have been built at the least one hundred and fifty years before.

According to some historians, that entire epic clique of signers of the Declaration of Independence were freemasons....

According to some historians too, Ambassador Jefferson overstepped the bounds of propriety and even worse, of diplomatic protocol in advising M. de la Fayette et Cie...about "certain" rights...........

Thank you so much, M. Peter for this fantastic tour!
Maria

Thérèse said...

Très intéressant de voir tous ces détails de près. Je suis étonnement surprise par tous ces détails sur ce genre de petit temple ??

Alexa said...

Fascinating, Peter! Though quite a few of America's Founding Fathers (among them my great(X8)-grandfather) were Freemasons, Jefferson was not. However, he did agree with many of their beliefs.

Anonymous said...


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Just love this fascinating post!
Merci.

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