Since the removal of the figure of Abbé-Pierre on the Fresque des Lyonnais, in the 1st arrondissement of Lyon, no name has been mentioned to fill the now empty space, but the Lyonnais have some ideas… We We interviewed them this Sunday, January 19.
While walking with her family in front of the Fresque des Lyonnais, Nina is surprised: “Well, I didn’t dream, there’s no longer Abbé-Pierre!”. The neo-Lyonnaise had of course spoken about the controversy but did not know that the painting had been erased at the end of November. Under the staircase where the figure of the priest accused of sexual assault by dozens of women appeared, nothing remains, except the brushstrokes.
When asked who she would see instead, Nina responds: “someone who has done something good for the right to housing, as it is written on the plaque”. Observer, Nina spotted this brand new inscription which appears right next to where Henri Grouès was drawn. This was added just after the retouching of the trompe l'oeil, so that its action against exclusion would not be forgotten.
A woman in Abbé-Pierre’s place?
A few meters away, Cécile Capelle, the director of the Tony-Garnier Museum, is showing a friend around the city. Without the slightest hesitation, this is a woman she would like to see in this place. “There’s a lack of women, like everywhere”she laments. Out of 30 personalities (now 29), only five are women: Sainte-Blandine, Pauline Jaricot, Louise Labé, Juliette Récamier and Claudine Thévenet. She would like to see Julie-Victoire Daubié, the first woman to obtain the baccalaureate. Her husband thinks of Philomène Rozan, the leading figure of the revolt of the Ovalists (the silk workers) or the poet Marceline Desbordes-Valmore who recounted the revolts of Canuts.
To watch: The Heroines of Lyon: “A tribute to the women who have left their mark on our city” (video)
-Sitting on the bench, Didier, a 70-year-old from Lyon, observes the Fresco from a distance. Ideas don't come to him spontaneously, but when the name of Lucie Aubrac is mentioned to him, his eyes light up. “Lucie Aubrac, that would be very good, symbolically it’s strong”he says. Thierry and Valérie, two Alsatians who accompany him, are of the same opinion: “Lucie Aubrac, it’s really a very good idea”. Even among tourists, its name resonates. “She was a resistance fighter”explains Lucie to her Parisian friends. The Mouv'Enfants association also advocates for this figure and even plastered it over the painting of Abbé-Pierre last October.
A former mayor or an OL figure?
And why not someone related to “gastronomy or cinema”suggests Thierry. Mother Brazier, the first woman to have obtained three stars for her two restaurants, or a current personality like Thierry Frémaux, director of the Lumière Institute who contributes to the influence of the city through the Lumière festival. Bernard, who came from Clermont-Ferrand for the weekend, imagines a “former mayor of Lyon”. With nearly 50 years in office, Edouard Herriot could have his place. But Benoît, a Lille resident visiting with his daughter, thinks more of Raymond Barre, mayor of Lyon from 1995 to 2001 and prime minister between 1976 and 1981, “when it was easier to be”he jokes.
If Bernard Lacombe, a footballer who marked the history of Olympique Lyonnais, is already represented on the Fresco, some imagine him as a ball companion a few meters away. “Juninho or Jean-Michel Aulas”says Cyprien. “It would make sense“, believes the man who is not an OL supporter. The Lyonnais can still think about it because on the side of the Town Hall and Cité Création, nothing seems to be moving for the moment. When contacted, they did not respond to our requests.
