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All French heritage classified by regions, departments and cities

  2. Patrimoine
  3. Normandie
  4. Calvados
  5. 14500 Vire Normandie

  6. Statue of Castel in Vire

 Statue of Castel in Vire à Vire dans le Calvados

Patrimoine classé
Patrimoine urbain
Statue
Calvados

Statue of Castel in Vire

    Place Castel
    14500 Vire Normandie
Statue de Castel à Vire
Statue de Castel à Vire
Statue de Castel à Vire
Crédit photo : Ikmo-ned - Sous licence Creative Commons

Timeline

Temps modernes
Révolution/Empire
XIXe siècle
Époque contemporaine
1800
1900
2000
1835
Creation of the statue
1868
Donation to the city of Vire
12 septembre 1869
Official Inauguration
6 janvier 1942
Dumping under Vichy
1945
Post-Liberation Resettlement
18 août 2006
Historical monument classification
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui

Heritage classified

The statue, excluding the base (non-cadaster case, public domain): inscription by decree of 18 August 2006

Key figures

René Castel - Politician and naturalist Subject of the statue, Mayor of Vire.
Louis de Chevigné - Count and sponsor Offered the statue to Vire in 1868.
Jean Baptiste Joseph De Bay - Neo-classical sculptor Author of the statue in 1835.
Édouard Rougereau - Saviour of the statue Cacha l ́oeuvre during the occupation.

Origin and history

The statue of Castel is a bronze work by sculptor Jean Baptiste Joseph De Bay in 1835. She represented René Castel (1758–1832), a politician, botanist and man of letters born in Vire. Commanded by Count Louis de Chevigné after the death of Castel, it was first exhibited at Boursault Castle before being offered to the town of Vire in 1868.

The statue was inaugurated on 12 September 1869 on the Place de l'Hôtel-de-Ville. Under Vichy's regime, she was debunked in 1942 to be melted, but saved by Édouard Rougereau, who hid her until the Liberation. Reinstalled in 1945, it has been listed as a historic monument since 2006.

The work shows elderly Castel, sitting against a tree trunk, studying a fungus in his left hand. This detail illustrates his passion for botany. The original base is not protected by the classification, which covers only the statue itself.

René Castel was deputy of Calvados, mayor of Vire, and preceptor of the Count of Chevigné. Its political and scientific heritage is honoured by this monument, a symbol of cultural resistance to the destructions of the Second World War.

External links

Page Wikipedia
Page Monumentum