In Lyon, the portrait of Abbé Pierre defaced on the emblematic Fresque des Lyonnais

LYON – The word “rapist” tagged in large letters and red paint blocking the eyes. The portrait of Abbé Pierre painted on the Fresque des Lyonnais was discovered defaced in Lyon, his hometown, this Monday, September 30.

The band of red paint on the face was drawn on Saturday, and the word in black capital letters, underlined by an arrow pointing towards the abbot, was written during the night from Sunday to Monday.

The Fresque des Lyonnais is a trompe-l’oeil painted on a six-story building depicting famous historical and contemporary Lyonnais, the latter being placed on the ground floor of the building.

The full-length portrait of Henri Grouès, known as Abbé Pierre, born in Lyon, stands alongside those of the chef Paul Bocuse, the writer Frédéric Dard and the director Bertrand Tavernier.

The question of removing the fresco

Since the revelations of sexual assault targeting the religious, the painting of the former icon of the fight against poor housing had remained intact, until the damage this weekend.

While many cities have already renamed places named in homage to the founder of Emmaüs, the question arose for the Fresque des Lyonnais, private property of CitéCréation, a cooperative which has produced several hundred painted walls in France and in the world.

The Lyon town hall indicated in mid-September that it was “ready to support the removal of Abbé Pierre from this fresco”and had pressed “CitéCréation’s proposal to put up a poster” aimed at informing the public about the ongoing process.

In France, some 150 roads or localities are named Abbé Pierre or Henri-Grouès, according to an AFP count made in mid-September from the national address database.

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