Origin and history
The monument to the dead of Banyuls-sur-Mer was created by sculptor Aristide Maillol, a native of the city, to honour the soldiers who had fallen during the First World War. Inaugurated in July 1933 on Illa Grossa, a rocky promontory facing the sea, it consists of a stele in grey marble of La Palme (Aude) adorned with a central high relief representing a dying Warrior naked, framed by two bas-reliefs of women in Catalan costume. Maillol, marked by war, offered this monument free of charge to his home town, as he did for three other municipalities of the Pyrénées-Orientales (Céret, Elne, Port-Vendres). The choice of the initial location, exposed to the weather, reflected his desire to integrate the work into the Mediterranean landscape, with the horizon of the sea and the sky.
In 1989, the original stone monument, damaged by the elements, was moved to Dina-Vierny Square in the city center to preserve it. A bronze copy replaced it on the Illa Grossa. The work is distinguished by its sobriety and lack of military glorification, expressing rather the pain of the relatives of the missing soldiers. The female lateral figures, La Consolation (mother and wife mourned) and Le Deuil (young girls wearing laurel crowns), illustrate this collective mourning. Maillol has merged themes dear to his art—the simplicity of forms and the humanity of bodies—with a traditional funeral iconography, rare in his work.
The monument bears the names of the deaths of 1914-1918, as well as those of 1939-1945 and conflicts in North Africa (AFN), engraved on plaques later added. In 2016, a commemorative plaque in the communal cemetery completed the list with 16 names of "forgotten" soldiers during the initial erection. During the occupation, the Germans had covered the work with a tarred canvas, causing damage that Maillol himself partially repaired before his death in 1944. Ranked a historic monument in 2018, this monument embodies both a local tribute and a universal reflection on war.
The story of Banyuls-sur-Mer with monuments to the dead dates back to 1894, with a column commemorating the battle of the Col de Banyuls (1793) during the Roussillon War. This first monument, located in front of the town hall, celebrated the inhabitants who fought during the Revolution. The Maillol project is part of this memory tradition, but with a radically modern artistic approach. For the artist, this monument was a "composition of architecture rather than sculpture", designed to dialogue with the marine horizon. He regretted, however, expressing sadness rather than joy, revealing his ambiguous attachment to his hometown.
Aristide Maillol, born in Banyuls in 1861, was already a renowned sculptor when the city commanded him this monument. His son Lucien, who was mobilized during the First World War, inspired in part the figure of the dying Warrior, who also evokes the fallen soldiers. Maillol built this monument for free, like those of other municipalities of the Pyrénées-Orientales, refusing any remuneration. The German count Harry Kessler, his patron, described in his newspaper (1922) the project as "a fallen soldier, naked under a steel helmet", highlighting his sober and poignant character. The work was cut in stone by a local artisan based on a Maillol plaster model at a cost of 52,000 francs (materials and labour).
Today, the original stone monument, protected from the weather, throne places Dina-Vierny, while its bronze copy watches over the Illa Grossa. There remains a strong symbol of the local memory and art of Maillol, which saw it as a synthesis between stone, sea and sky. For the inhabitants, it also embodies the resilience of a Catalan community marked by conflicts, but proud of its artistic and historical heritage. The successive restorations, notably the one funded by Dina Vierny in 1989, demonstrate the lasting attachment to this work, both intimate and universal.
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