The present column from which this is modelled is located in the Place Vendôme, Paris. Constructed by Lepere and Gondoin, its design followed that of Trajan's column in Rome. The seventy-six spiraling bas-reliefs represent the soldiers of the 1805 campaign. Construction commenced in 1806, using the bronze supplied by the cannons captured from Russian and Austrian armies. It was surmounted by a gilt-bronze statue of the Emperior in classical attire by Chaumet, only to be replaced four times during the next sixty years by other figures. In 1870, the present statue of Napoleon was placed atop the column.