How can we measure the presence of the 19th century in our own time? Three paths are taken to explore this issue. First of all, an analysis of a number of political speeches from the right and the left since 1968 shows how the 19th century is still serving as a reservoir of ideologies, while being confronted to a rewriting of history putting in question the most celebrated, and even “pantheonised” (reburied in the Panthéon monument) (Victor Schoelcher) personalities of the 19th century (Jules Ferry). Second, a focus on the way Delacroix’ La Liberté guidant le peuple (Liberty Guiding the People) and Hugo’s Les Misérables have been used and sometimes misappropriated in the service of political interpretations of the present period, which they thus legitimise. And finally, a study of the way Paris has been choosing names for public spaces for the last two decades with particular attention to the attention granted 19th century men and women and the political meaning of these promotions.