Sought after by Marie de’ Medici to celebrate the memory of her husband, the equestrian statue of Henry IV was commissioned in Florence from Giambologna, but was eventually created by his student Pietro Tacca. It was inaugurated in 1614. The first of its kind in France, this statue is highly symbolic: placed at the junction between the first stone bridge over the Seine by the last of the Valois and the tip of the triangle-shaped Place Dauphine, devised by the first Bourbon king and his minister Sully, it marks the dawn of a kingdom that the regent wanted to be peaceful and unified thenceforth.
Learn more: « ["The rider of Pont-Neuf: history, restoration and secrets of the equestrian statue of Henry IV"] In Situ, n°14/2010