Tunnel du Pont de l’Alma
The so-called “Princess Diana Memorial” is quite unconventional.
Her tragic death on August 31, 1997, so shocked people that hundreds of mourners immediately went to the Place de l’Alma, which is located just above the tunnel where she and Dodi Fayed died in a car accident.
The Flame of Liberty, a monument gifted by the United States to France in 1989 in gratitude for France’s restoration of the Statue of Liberty in New York, already stood on the square. Thus, people began laying flowers at the foot of the flame, spontaneously transforming it into an impromptu memorial to her.
However, we must keep in mind that the Flame of Liberty is not a memorial to Princess Diana, but an American memorial to which the public has spontaneously given a dual, unofficial purpose.
Place de l’Alma is centrally located in Paris, and therefore easily accessible for those who wish to pay their respects at the memorial. It is indeed a stone’s throw from the American Cathedral of Paris, the Eiffel Tower, the Champ de Mars, and the Alma Bridge, which has become famous for its iconic Zouave statue that stands on its northern jetty.
Flame of Liberty – Princess Diana Memorial
The Flame of Liberty was inaugurated in 1989 by the International Herald Tribune. The 3.5-metre-high Flame of Liberty is a life-size replica of the torch of the Statue of Liberty, erected as a symbol at the entrance to New York Harbour. Installed on a grey and black marble pedestal, just above the tunnel exit, it was financed by donations from International Herald Tribune readers worldwide during the newspaper’s centennial celebrations in Paris
A commemorative plaque affixed to the base of the Flame bears the following inscription:
The Flame of Liberty.
An exact replica of the Statue of Liberty’s flame offered to the people of France by donors throughout the world as a symbol of the Franco-American friendship.
On the occasion of the centennial of the International Herald Tribune.
Paris 1887-1987.”
Directions: 8th district – Place de l’Alma
Metro: Alma-Marceau on Line 9
Coordinates: Lat 48.864198 – Long 2.300891
