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Origin and history

The Monument to the Dead of Lodève, made in 1930 by sculptor Paul Dardé, is a major work of the first half of the twentieth century. It is made up of a group of four women and two children surrounding a layperson, symbolizing universal pain after the loss of a father during the First World War (1914-1918). Female figures, representing seasons and social classes, frame a collapsed widow on the body of a hairy, while two children embody broken innocence. The work, made of patinated Lens stone, combines realism and symbolism to denounce the ravages of war.

The monument is located in a public garden, a former park of the bishops of Lodève, near the cathedral and the episcopal palace. Its plant environment, marked by chestnut trees, favours contemplation. Paul Dardé, a former war-traumatized brancardier, expressed his anti-militarism in it, showing a mourning that transcends social differences. The project, begun in 1919, was inaugurated in 1930 by Louis Germain-Martin, Minister of Budget and Member of Parliament for the Hérault, in the absence of the artist.

Between 1921 and 1930, the monument evolved with the addition of a wrought iron balustrade (1924) and two side wings with fountains. The latter, decorated with hilarious masks symbolizing life, contrast with the masks with the closed eyes of the massifs bearing the plates of the deceased. Ranked Historic Monument in 2005, the whole includes the garden and its amenities. The work, owned by the commune, remains a poignant testimony of the collective memory of the Great War in Occitanie.

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