In Nantes, the statue of the young Jules Verne finds itself on the ground again

Le Figaro Nantes

What evil spirit is tormenting the statue of little Jules Verne in Nantes? Installed facing the Loire, on a promontory of the Butte Saint-Anne, the monument to the young writer – who spent his first twenty years in the city of dukes – usually contemplates the heroic figure of Captain Némo, with a sextant deployed towards the horizon and the adventure. However, the childish daydreams were cut short. Perhaps in a shocking way, the statue fell to the ground on the night of Saturday November 9 to Sunday November 10. The stone bench broke away from its piles, sending the author of Twenty thousand leagues under the sea . The writer is starting to get used to it. Four years ago, a similar incident had already caused the statue to fall.

At the time, the services of the city of Nantes had the opportunity to see the problem coming, linked to the wear of the base of the statue of the adolescent Jules Verne. A restorer was even consulted to consolidate it. However, the intervention did not complete in time, so much so that, on September 18, 2020, the monument bent its knee for the first time. As told then Ocean Press the statue is moved in reserve while the rehabilitation work on the base is carried out. An operation completed in December.

Also read
In Nantes, the new Jules Verne museum criticized for the writer's “colonialist” prose

Avoid a third incident

Like the 2020 incident, there is no evidence to suggest an act of vandalism. Apart from the base, the statue itself appears to have been little damaged. This repeated twice remains no less heartbreaking in the eyes of Élisabeth Cibot. “It’s very surprising all the same, a statue like this doesn’t fall by itself.” reacts to the Figaro the Nantes sculptor, creator of the bronze group of Jules Verne and Captain Némo – a set inaugurated in 2005 by the city of Nantes, on the occasion of the centenary of the writer's death. According to the artist, an imperfect seal at the end of the left foot appears to have given way. Or a part of the monument which had to be taken over four years ago.

An examination of the monument should make it possible to highlight the evil which torments the Nantes statuary group. And to correct any imperfections from the previous restoration. “I call on the city's technical services to contact me. We will probably have to review the type of fixing used, to prevent this from happening a third time.suggests Élisabeth Cibot, who regrets having learned of the latest misadventures of her work through the press, rather than on the initiative of the community which commissioned it from her, almost twenty years ago. “This was already the case in 2020, when the municipality has the duty to inform artists when something happens to the work,” she notices.

When requested, the Nantes town hall did not provide details on the incident or on the previous restoration of the monument. Tuesday morning, the toppled statue still rested behind security barriers, installed on Sunday by municipal teams. On Monday, the community told our colleagues to West France that the restoration of the monument should only be a matter of days.