Square Thomas Jefferson in Paris
The Square Thomas Jefferson was originally located by the American Embassy at the Place des Etats-Unis, and designed to commemorate the relationship between America and France, it was inaugurated in the 1800s.
About the Square Thomas Jefferson
An American ambassador by the name of Levi Morton established a residence and the American embassy on what at the time was known as the Place de Bitche, that was named after a small village in the north east of France where they resisted a Prussian invasions during the Franco-Prussian war.
However, with the name Bitche being very close to an unpopular English word, it did not seem appropriate and this small park in Paris was renamed the Place des Etats-Unis and the square of the place was named Square Thomas Jefferson after the person who wrote the declaration of independence.
It was created in 1881 and has a true American feel to it, as it has benches, lamps and grilles laid out by the inspiration of the Battery Park in New York and there was a bronze model of the Statue of Liberty added. This was a model of the one being constructed to be transported to America and was aimed at providing support for the continuation of the building of the full size statue, as the completed head was first on display at an earlier Universal Exhibition in Paris.
However, the famous publisher Joseph Pulitzer commissioned Frederic Bartholdi to produce another statue that would be more emblematic for the American French relationship and the figures chosen were General George Washington and Gilbert du Motier, the Marquis de Lafayette, who were comrades during the American Revolutionary War.
This statue of Washington and Lafayette in military uniforms shaking hands, was designed in bronze and standing on a marble plinth, and was officially inaugurated in 1895 at the Square Thomas Jefferson, which you can still see here today.
However, over the years there have also been other monuments in Paris added within the Square Thomas Jefferson and the Place des Etats-Unis that also represent the relationship between France and America such as a statue commemorating the American soldiers that died for France.
And therefore the Square Thomas Jefferson and the small park in Paris of the Place des Etats-Unis is still a place that many Americans come to while on holiday in Paris, even though there are other landmarks dotted around the city to be discovered, such as the statue of Thomas Jefferson located by the River Seine.
Yet we would like to point out that the American Embassy is now located on the Avenue Gabriel in the 8th Arrondissement close to the Place de la Concorde and the famous Avenue des Champs Elysees.
Access to Square Thomas Jefferson
Located in the 16th Arrondissement of Paris at the Place des Etats-Unis, this square in Paris is free to visit, just like the majority of parks and gardens in Paris.
And most of the area is accessible to the disabled, however, to get up close to some monuments such as the main statue is either not possible or impractical for wheelchair users.
But while you are here, you could also always visit the Musee Baccarat and it is situated only around 500 metres away from the Place Charles de Gaulle, which is where the incredible Arc de Triomphe is situated.
