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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Mur-de-Barrez dead monument, located in Occitanie in the department of Aveyron, commemorates the 71 soldiers of the commune who fell during the First World War, as well as 3 soldiers of the Second World War. It consists of a 3.5 metre high bronze relief, framed by two black stone columns of Volvic. The hairy, represented in Christic posture with its arms apart, dominates a trench scene with the names of the missing engraved in the metal. A later marble plaque paid tribute to the victims of 1939-1945. The monument, protected by a dardian roof and an iron gate, is backed by a small municipal building itself next to the tower of Monaco, an old town gate classified since 1913.

The decision to build the monument was taken in 1921, after favourable opinion of Casimir Croizet, departmental architect of historical monuments. The plans were entrusted to Eugene Vergnes, while the high relief was commissioned in 1922 by the sculptor Joseph Grandet, a pupil of Denys Puech and native of Rodez. Directed by the Rudier foundry, the monument was inaugurated on 30 October 1923. His iconography, mixing religious symbols and realism of trenches, illustrates the sacrifice of the soldiers, compared to that of Christ. The monument is listed in the historical monuments inventory on October 18, 2018, as part of a wave of protections affecting 42 monuments to the dead in the Occitan region.

The choice to endorse the monument at the tower of Monaco, classified since 1913, requires a ministerial authorization obtained in 1921. This tower, an ancient medieval gate of the city, had temporarily housed the town hall before hosting the memorial. The adjacent building, built in 1921 for municipal services, serves as structural support. The bronze of the High Relief, signed by Grandet, also represents in the background the ruins of a church and barbed wire, reinforcing the evocation of the destruction of the war. The restoration of the monument in 2018 coincides with its official inscription, highlighting its artistic and historical value.

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