Zouave (Pont de l'Alma)

The Zouave is an 1856 stone statue by French artist Georges Diebolt, which has been sited on the Pont de l'Alma in Paris since the 1850s.

The statue is used as an informal flood marker for the level of the River Seine in Paris.

Each of the four sculptures depicts a French soldier from the Crimean War: a Zouave and a grenadier by Georges Diebolt, and a chasseur and an artilleryman by Auguste Arnaud.

The French Zouave wears the traditional uniform based on the styles of clothing worn in North Africa in the early 1800s, with a short open-fronted jacket, sashes, and baggy trousers (sirwal) gathered above the ankle.

The Zouave statue is used as an informal flood marker in Paris: the footpaths along the embankments beside the Seine were usually closed when the level of the river reached the feet of The Zouave, and the river was unnavigable by the time it reached his thighs.