Monument aux morts
MonumentHidden Treasure
Monument aux morts, located in Figeac (Département 46), is a modern edifice built in the 19th-20th centuries. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Period
- Modern (19th-20th century)
- Location
- Figeac, Département 46, Occitanie
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 44.6134, 2.0330
- Mérimée Reference
- PA46000070
Erected in the heart of Figeac after the Great War, this monument to the dead embodies the collective memory of the Lot, combining sober dignity and emotion sculpted in Quercy limestone.
History
In the heart of Figeac, a medieval town in the Lot whose gilded sandstone streets bear witness to a rich past, the war memorial stands out as a place of recollection and civic remembrance of a profoundly human nature. Built in the first half of the 20th century, it bears the collective pain of a community deeply affected by the world wars, and is now one of the few monuments of its kind to have been listed as a Historic Monument in the Lot department, a sign of its heritage value recognised by the State in 2018. What sets this monument apart from the mass of ordinary commemorations is the plastic quality of its execution and the attention paid to integrating it into the urban fabric of Figeac. Far from the cold monumentality sometimes criticised in works from the inter-war period, it exudes a restrained emotion, typical of works that choose sobriety as the language of grief. The names engraved in the stone - those of the children of Figeac who fell on the field of honour - constitute a poignant inventory of the national hecatomb. The visit takes place in a naturally respectful silence. You take your time to peruse the inscriptions, to gauge the extent of the losses for a town of this size, and to appreciate the artistic effort made by the town council to honour its dead with dignity. The monument then becomes much more than a heritage object: it is a civic act petrified in the limestone of the Quercy region. Figeac itself offers an exceptional setting for this memorial visit. As the birthplace of Jean-François Champollion, the town combines scholarly memory with painful memory, inviting visitors to take a full cultural tour. The monument forms part of the symbolic geography of the town, and is one of its key landmarks.
Architecture
The Figeac war memorial is in keeping with the stylistic canons of French commemorative statuary of the inter-war period, characterised by a blend of classical references and expressive realism inherited from the academic sculptural tradition of the 19th century. Like most monuments of this generation in the south-west of France, it was probably made from local limestone, a favoured material in the Quercy region, whose tight grain and creamy-gold hue harmonise with the surrounding medieval architecture of Figeac. The building is probably arranged vertically around a shaft or obelisk bearing the names of the fallen soldiers, surmounted or flanked by allegorical carvings - figures of Victory, the Poilu, or France in mourning - in keeping with the widespread iconography of Lot monuments at the time. The inscriptions engraved in regular capital letters, organised by conflict and sometimes in alphabetical order, form the documentary and emotional core of the ensemble. The quality of the sculptural workmanship is sufficiently remarkable to justify its inclusion on the Monuments Historiques list to suggest that the work was carried out with great care, perhaps by a renowned sculptor from the region or Toulouse, who mastered the techniques of bas-relief or the ronde-bosse. As a whole, the work reveals a particular attention to formal dignity and balanced proportions, distinguishing this monument from the more standardised creations produced industrially in the 1920s.
Related Figures
Les soldats figeacois tombés lors de la Première Guerre mondiale (1914-1918), dont les noms sont gravés sur le monumentLes soldats figeacois tombés lors de la Seconde Guerre mondiale (1939-1945), ajoutés après-guerreLe maire de Figeac lors de l'inauguration du monument (années 1920), initiateur du projet commémoratifLe sculpteur auteur de l'œuvre, probablement un artiste régional de l'école toulousaine des années 1920Jean-François Champollion (1790-1832), enfant illustre de Figeac, dont la mémoire patriotique enrichit le contexte mémoriel de la villeLes anciens combattants de l'Union Nationale des Combattants (UNC) de Figeac, gardiens de la mémoire du monument tout au long du XXe siècle
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Monument aux morts located?
Monument aux morts is located in Figeac, Département 46 department, Occitanie region, France.
When was Monument aux morts built?
Monument aux morts dates back to a period built in the modern era (19th-20th century).
Is Monument aux morts open to visitors?
Monument aux morts is currently closed to visitors.