Park Monument is the most beautiful public place, in the center of Pondicherry. Standing in it's centre is, Aayi Mandapam. Built in Greco-Roman architecture, purely white, during the reign of Napoleon III -- emperor of France.

It bears the name of Aayi, a 16th century courtesan, who razed down her home and replaced it with a reservoir to appease a passing king, angry at having mistaken her candle-lit residence for a holy place. It was from this lake that Napoleon's men quenched their thirst, some 300 years later. Napoleon charmed by the story, ordered a monument to Aayi.