The true name of the column in question is the Column of Austerlitz. So, at least, it was designated by Napoleon; though the French people have persisted in calling it after the place in which it stands. It is a reproduction, as regards form, of the Trajan Column, which, however, is in marble, whereas the Column of the Place Vendôme is in stone covered with bronze castings. The column astonishes by its height, and excites admiration by its harmonious proportions. Few, however, notice the perfection of its details. The stone, of which the monument substantially consists, is covered by 378 sheets of bronze, so perfectly adjusted that the column appears to be one mass of solid metal. On an interminable spiral of low reliefs, the soldiers of the Empire are represented with the uniforms they wore, and the arms they carried. The principal personages are portraits, and the scenes represented are all from the campaign of 1805. The scrolls of bronze on which figure the actors and incidents of the Austerlitz campaign would measure, in one continuous line, more than 260 metres. The column is surmounted by the statue of the man who, in his own honour, erected it, and the base of the statue bears an inscription in these terms:-- "MONUMENT RAISED TO THE GLORY OF THE GRAND ARMY BY NAPOLEON THE GREAT. BEGUN XXV AUGUST, MDCCCVI, FINISHED XV AUGUST, MDCCCX, UNDER THE DIRECTION OF D. V. DENON, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, MM. J. B. LEPÈRE AND L. GONDOIN, ARCHITECTS." The base of the column bears this legend:-- "NEAPOLIO IMP. AUG. MONUMENTUM BELLI GERMANICI ANNO MDCCCV. TRIMESTRI SPATIO DUCTU SUO PROFLIGATI EX ÆRE CAPTO GLORIÆ EXERCITUS MAXIMI DICAVAT." which may be translated as follows:-- "Napoleon, august Emperor, dedicates to the glory of the Grand Army this monument made of bronze taken from the enemy, 1805, in the German War, terminated in three months under his command." This other very different translation from the same obscure original was suggested by Alexandre Dumas the elder: "Nearchus Polion, General of Augustus, dedicated this war tomb of Germanicus to the glory of the Army of Maximus, in the year 1805, with the money stolen from the vanquished, thanks to his conduct, during the space of three months."