Municipal decision 1916 (≈ 1916)
City Council voted to erect the monument.
1918
Establishment of the Commission
Establishment of the Commission 1918 (≈ 1918)
Commission responsible for the project formed.
1929
Completion of the monument
Completion of the monument 1929 (≈ 1929)
Work completed before Bourdelle's death.
12 octobre 1930
Inauguration
Inauguration 12 octobre 1930 (≈ 1930)
Monument officially unveiled.
7 avril 2016
Registration for historical monuments
Registration for historical monuments 7 avril 2016 (≈ 2016)
First heritage protection.
30 septembre 2020
Complete classification
Complete classification 30 septembre 2020 (≈ 2020)
Total protection of the monument and its environment.
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui Aujourd'hui (≈ 2025)
Position de référence.
Heritage classified
In total the monument to the dead, including the masonry massif that surrounds it, located communal place, along the quay of the General-de-Gaulle, on the public domain not cadastre, section BD of the cadastre, as delimited on the plan annexed to the decree: classification by decree of 30 September 2020
Key figures
Auguste Bourdelle - Sculptor
Author of the monument and designer.
M. Peyerhimoff - Mining Officer
Intermediate between Bourdelle and the sponsor.
Veuve de Bourdelle - Posthumous manager
Supervises completion and delivery.
Origin and history
The monument to the dead of Montceau-les-Mines, located in Place Communale, is a work by sculptor Auguste Bourdelle, commissioned by the municipality in 1916 to honour the victims of the First World War. Its design incorporates symbolic elements related to local mining life, such as a minor lamp, which dominates the composition. Bourdelle was inspired by an event that occurred during his visit to Montceau: a minor's lamp which had been extinguished and spontaneously lit, he saw there a symbol of resurrection, thus associating the work of the miners with the eternal memory of the soldiers who died for the homeland.
The four reliefs of the monument illustrate scenes of the lives of minors and soldiers: minors at work, the departure of a minor for the front, the role of women in mines, and soldiers in trenches. Medallions in bas-relief represent mining tools, strengthening the link between the local working world and the sacrifice of the fighters. The design was long and controversial: the original model, criticized locally, led Bourdelle to interrupt the project for five years. The monument was only completed in 1929, shortly before the sculptor's death, and inaugurated in 1930 under the supervision of his widow.
Ranked as historical monuments in 2016, and fully protected by a 2020 decree, this memorial embodies a fusion between Roman art, Greek archaism, and a sober and monumental aesthetic. Bourdelle expresses a desire for order and simplicity, integrating the figures into a coherent architectural framework. The mineral objects preserved at the Bourdelle Museum in Paris (clothing, tools) testify to the documentary rigour of the artist, who sought to anchor his work in the daily life of the miners of Saône-et-Loire.
The monument stands today as a double symbol: homage to the deaths of the Great War and celebration of mining labor, two pillars of local identity. Its location, between the Place Communale and the Quai du Général-de-Gaulle, makes it a central point of the collective memory of Montceau-les-Mines, a city marked by its industrial and labour history.
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