The lion currently occupying the center of the square is a replica of the lion of Belfort sculpted by Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi (1834-1905), whose workshop was located in the 14th arrondissement. He created the original in memory of Colonel Denfert-Rochereau, who defended Belfort against the Prussians during the 1870-1871 war. In 1879, at Bartholdi's suggestion, the City of Paris decided to erect a copy of the lion opposite Ledoux's pavilions, on its present site, 22 m long and 11 m high, in Vosges red sandstone.
Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi also designed the Statue of Liberty in New York and a smaller Statue of Liberty at the tip of Ile des Cygnes in Paris.
