Monument aux Bourgeois de Calais
See more images
Monument aux Bourgeois de Calais
Place du Soldat Inconnu - 62100 CALAIS
A pivotal episode in the history of France
The monument refers to one of the first significant events of the Hundred Years' War. After his victory at Crécy in August 1346, Edward III of England besieges Calaisthen surrounded by ramparts. The city capitulated on August 4, 1347, after eleven months of resistance. The King of England demanded that notables come to hand over the keys to the city, dressed in a simple sheet, barefoot, with a rope around their necks.
Eustache de Saint-Pierre He volunteers first. Five men join him: Jean d'Aire, Jacques and Pierre de Wissant, Jean de Fiennes and Andrieu d'AndresThey ultimately escaped hanging thanks to the intervention of Queen Philippa of Hainault, who convinced her husband to show clemency. The English Crown would hold Calais for 211 years, until François de Guise and his troops returned the city to France in 1558.
©Nohcab A major work by Auguste Rodin
The municipality of Calais commissioned the work. Auguste Rodin in 1884. The sculptor imposes a radically modern vision: six life-size, individualized figures, brought together on the same base, Each confronted in her own way with the imminent sacrifice. The entire piece is cast in bronze, weighing a total of 1,5 tons and inaugurated in June 1895This is the first cast of the work. Eleven other original editions are currently on display around the world, from Rodin Museum of Paris at the Houses of Parliament in London, from the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
In front of the belfry, it is one of the most photographed places in Calais, and one of the most laden with meaning.
The History of the Burghers of Calais
©Nohcab 
©Charles Delcourt The Rodin Gallery at the Calais Museum of Fine Arts
Inaugurated in May 2025, the new Rodin Gallery at the Calais Museum of Fine Arts traces the sculptor's work through six themes, from his beginnings to his influence on 20th-century artists. It is organized around the genesis of The Burghers of Calais, with the correspondence between Rodin and Mayor Omer Dewavrin, and houses 21 works on loan from the Rodin Museum in Paris, the largest loan from that museum in France.
Calais Museum of Fine Arts
Three locations in 130 years
Did you know? The inauguration of the monument coincides with a pivotal period for the city: the merger in 1885 between Calais the port and Saint-Pierre the lacemaker has just taken place. This context explains why the statue was originally installed in front of the Richelieu Park, in the heart of old medieval Calais. Between the two world wars, it was moved to the Place d'Armes. After the Second World War, the monument took its current place opposite theHôtel de VilleThree locations in 130 years, for a work that has always sought the right relationship with the city that commissioned it.
©Nohcab 
