The lion sits down with his tail relaxed at his right side. He suppresses an arrow with his paws on place Denfert-Rochereau in the 15th arrondissement.
The dark bronze statue of the Belfort lion by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi (1880) is a smaller copy of the red sandstone lion at Belfort. The original is an amazing 22m by 11m and was dedicated to the people of the town of Belfort who were under a 103 day siege during the Prussian War (December 1870 - February 1871). Under Colonel Denfert-Rochereau, an army of ~3500 and ~14000 civilians held out against 40000 Prussians.