Joan of Arc
Labels :
Joan of Arc,
La Couronne Rouen,
Paris 1,
Place des Pyramides
You can find this statue of Joan of Arc quite close to the Louvre, Place des Pyramides.
May 30, 676 years ago (in 1431), the English had her burnt at the stake in Rouen (and the French have not forgotten!!), at the age of 19. She is clearly one of the legendary French heroines and her memory is frequently used – and sometimes misused. She was canonized in 1920.
A lot has been written and said about her, including by the greatest authors (Shakespeare, Voltaire, Schiller, Twain, Shaw…), composers (Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Brecht…) and there are some famous films (by Dreyer, Fleming - starring Ingrid Bergman, Rosselini - again starring Ingrid Bergman, Preminger…). I guess you all know her story, so I’m not going to recall it here.
Maybe just a few “details”:
A retrial was authorized by the then Pope and Joan’s innocence was declared in 1456, 25 years after her death.
The model for the statue (dated 1874) was a young girl, born at the same place as Joan, the same date of the year as Joan, and she died, accidentally burnt, at the same date of the year as Joan (at the age of 77).
I have had a few (heavy) lunches in what is supposed to be the oldest, still existing, French restaurant, La Couronne, situated on the central place of Rouen where she was burnt. It was founded in 1345, 86 years before she was burnt. The restaurant is worth a visit, but you must be hungry; the traditional dishes are heavy.
