The statue of Poilu

The monumental statue of Poilu
Fort Carré houses the monumental statue of “Poilu”, erected in honor of the soldiers who died for France during the First World War.

It took the sculptor Henri Bouchard four years to erect the monument, which is 22 meters high and thus France’s tallest monument to the dead during wars.

At the inauguration in 1927, 261 names were quoted. Antibes is actually one of the municipalities in France that lost the largest number of its own during the First World War.

If you look closely, you can see that Poilu is carrying his weapon on the left side and that is a mistake. The weapon must be carried on the right side. The mistake has since given rise to the legend that it should have caused the suicide of the artist who realized the monument. This is however not true, since Henri Bouchard was quite productive until his death in Paris in 1960.

The statue is best seen from the Fort Carré stadium.

Af Tommy Sverre / 2020