Opposite the Hôtel Concordia stands the monument commemorating the research and achievements of Léon Bollée, inventor and manufacturer of the Bollée internal combustion engine. Built on 31 October 1920, the monument was the joint work of architect Henri Laffillée and sculptor Raoul Verlet. At the foot of the monument, Plato wrote: "A life not devoted to research is not worth living".
The monument to Léon Bollée once consisted of a stone statue on a high pedestal and two metal statues, probably bronze, representing workers working iron on an anvil. Only the stone statue remains.
Recently restored in 2023 to mark the centenary of the Le Mans 24 Hours, it is the starting point for the "drivers' footprints" route.