Located in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, Place Vendôme is the symbol of French luxury and refinement. The octagonal square was designed in 1699 by the architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart, who also designed the facades of the private mansions that surround it. In its centre, on the site of the former equestrian statue of Louis XIV, stands the Vendôme Column that Napoleon I had erected in 1810 to commemorate the battle of Austerlitz (1805). Knocked down during the Paris Commune (1871), the column was raised again. Held responsible for the events, the anarchist painter Gustave Courbet was condemned to pay the costs of the restoration.