Place Vendome, Paris under snow - photograph taken from the front door of the Ritz Hotel. The column is 44 metres high - encased in the bronze of 1250 cannons captured at the Battle of Austerliz (1805). Designed by Denon-Gondouin and Lepere and modelled in the style of Trajan's Column in Rome. Constructed 1806-10, the spiral bronze bas-relief was created by Bergeret.