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Verdun
Meuse Lorraine Rue des Frères Boulhaut |
Monument de la Hollande amieMonument of Dutch FriendshipL'Appel aux armes or La Défense |
Auguste Rodin
Alexis Rudier Fondeur (Paris) 1879 (1920) |
Sculpture depicting a naked wounded soldier supported by a winged genius wearing a Phrygian cap (thus probably representing Marianne, the symbol of France) with a furious expression, arms stretched out horizontally and clenched fists. It was made by Rodin in 1879 in response to the State's call for a monument to the Defense of Paris commemorating the siege of Paris in 1870, he named it L'Appel aux armes or La Défense and intended for the Courbevoie roundabout.
The copy in Verdun is a quadruple enlargement by Henri Lebossé and a gift from the Netherlands to the town of Verdun in 1920.
The monument was unveiled on 1 August 1920 in the presence of amongst others the Dutch monument committee Mrs. Antoinette van Bevervoorde-Treusart van Rappard, Jacob Baart de la Faille, Dr, Van Leeuwen and Huib Luns, the Dutch ambassador jhr. Loudon, the French minister of education Honorat, the generals Dupont and Boichut, and the mayor and the the sous-prefect of Verdun.
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a la france immortelle a la glorieuse ville de verdun la hollande amie |
The original inscription on the pedestal was:
A la gloire de la France éternelle. A Verdun, l'indomptable cité lorraine. Les fidèles amis de Hollande, qui n'ont jamais désespéré du triomphe du droit et de la justice. Décembre 1919 - Août 1920.
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