Plaques for the Victims of the 1830 and 1848 Revolutions

You'll see panels on either side crowded with names. Between the two plaques on the right is an inscription: "In honor of the victims of the revolutions of 1830 and 1848, who died defending their ideals." The plaques carry the names of people who died in the revolutions that broke out in France in those two years.

The July Revolution of 1830 was an uprising in which huge numbers of people took to the streets to topple King Charles X, who had been suppressing citizens' freedoms. You may wonder why a king was still so powerful after the French Revolution. The answer is that the republic had never fully taken root. Napoleon staged a coup, and the neighboring monarchies of Europe interfered with the French Republic, among other factors, and the monarchy was restored.

In the lead-up to the July Revolution, those neighboring monarchies had meddled in French affairs and put a king back on the French throne. They feared that the spirit of the French Revolution would spread to their own countries, undermine their monarchies, and bring down their power. When Charles X, who succeeded his brother Louis XVIII on the restored throne, began to crack down on citizens' freedoms, Parisians rose up again in July 1830.

In 1848, workers worn down by industrialization and epidemics demonstrated to demand the right to vote so their voices could be heard. This was the February Revolution of 1848. The plaques were put up to honor those who died fighting for liberty and rights.