It is this Monday that the commemorative ceremonies of the Armistice of November 11, 1918 take place. Every year, there are of course the traditional parades. The war memorials also bear witness to this dark part of our history. That of Albi (81) is the largest ever built for a town of 50,000 inhabitants.
Company
From daily life to major issues, discover the subjects that make up local society, such as justice, education, health and family.
France Télévisions uses your email address to send you the “Society” newsletter. You can unsubscribe at any time via the link at the bottom of this newsletter. Our privacy policy
The war memorials are reminders of all those who gave their lives fighting for France. On the occasion of the ceremonies of November 11, close-up on that of Albi in Tarn.
It stands very close to the hospital. The Albi war memorial is the work of the Mazametian architect Léon Daures. It was inspired by the mausoleum of Cecilia Metella which is located in Rome. It was in 1918, at the end of the Great War, that the town hall decided to build it.
It is from this Roman mausoleum that the architect of the Albi war memorial was inspired.
•
© FTV
“We have these cylinders on the side, which are reminiscent of the Roman mausoleum,” confides Gerard Alquier, the president of Albi Patrimoine. “And if you look at the decor, at the top on the entablature, there are garlands of flowers. It's exactly the same as on Cecilia Metella's.”
At the time, the mayor wanted a grandiose monument to honor her soldiers who died in combat. Its construction began in 1924 and will last 2 years. The whole thing is monumental and will cost the municipality 280,000 francs. But very quickly the architect will notice a small defect.
“The town hall thought that it would be good to install it on a new boulevard, that of Pinier, which had just been filled in recently,” says Gérad Alquier. “The fact of having been erected on this boulevard led to a slight tilt towards the north. So this war memorial leans slightly.”
To read: “There are mainly soldiers from the First World War”, the crypt of the poilus, unique in France, reveals its secrets
Inside the war memorial, the names of 636 Albigensians, who died for France, are forever engraved on the walls. On the 4 corners of the building, there are 4 sculpted faces. 3 senior army officers and it's funnier, a civilian: Jean Jaurès.
Jean Jaurès was at the heart of a controversy at the time of the monument's inauguration.
•
© FTV
“There was actually a big controversy at the time of the inauguration in 1926 over Jean Jaures”, explains Jean Esquerre, delegate to the patriotic ceremonies in the city of Albi. “The population and the fighting world did not consider that he died in combat but rather because of his political ideas, which changed the profile of the monument.”
Several times a year, ceremonies are organized to pay tribute to these Albigensians, who died for France. This was the case this Monday, November 11, 2024.
