Advertising column

First advertising column by Ernst Litfaß in Berlin
A Morris column in front of the Palais Brongniart

An advertising column or Morris column (French: colonne Morris, German: Litfaßsäule) is a cylindrical outdoor sidewalk structure with a characteristic style that is used for advertising and other purposes. They are common throughout Germany[1] including its capital Berlin, where the first 100 columns were installed in 1855. Advertising columns were invented by the German printer Ernst Litfaß in 1854. Therefore, they are known as Litfaßsäulen (Litfass columns).

In France, the columns are called colonnes Morris after Gabriel Morris,[2] a printer, who held the concession for advertising in 1868. They were originally built by La Société Fermière des Colonnes Morris. Today, they are mostly built and maintained by the JCDecaux company, which purchased the original company in 1986.[3]

  1. ^ Parry, Roger (2011), The Ascent of Media, Nicholas Brealey Publishing, ISBN 9781857889468
  2. ^ Metropolitan Museum of Art New York (2010), The Robert Lehman Collection: Nineteenth- and twentieth-century paintings, The Museum, p. 59
  3. ^ JCDecaux. "Colonne". 40 ans d'innovation. Archived from the original on 2006-03-13. Retrieved 2006-05-19.