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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The monument to the dead of Tournus is distinguished by its Roman column of the first centuries, discovered in the Saône. Measuring 6 meters high, it was erected in 1599 Place de la Provôté to commemorate the edict of Nantes, then surmounted by a cross. After the Revolution, it became a symbol of Liberty with a statue carved by Joseph Chinard in 1798, before being modified several times in the 19th century.

In 1867, threatened by frost, the column was lowered and stored in the courtyard of the Caserne for more than fifty years. It was rebuilt in 1922 on the Champ-de-Mars square by the statuary Désiré Mathivet, transformed into a monument to the dead to honour the canton's soldiers who had fallen during the First World War. The column alone was entered in 1931, then in 2016, before being ranked in 2020.

This monument illustrates the reuse of ancient elements in modern commemorations, combining local history and national memory. Its evolution reflects the political and symbolic changes of France, from Nantes' edict to the Great War. The column, originally pagan, became in turn a religious symbol, revolutionary, then memorial, testifying to the historical richness of Tournus.

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