What if the Emperor was forced into a new, symbolic exile? In Rouen, in Seine-Maritime, the monumental equestrian statue of Napoleon Iis, under restoration for more than a year and for another six months, but until then proudly erected opposite the town hall on the Place du General de Gaulle since 1865, may not return to its pedestal. If there is displacement, the work would be replaced by a female figure.
At the end of a huge controversy, against a backdrop of accusations of “cancel culture”, its fate is in the hands of Rouennais who have been able to vote online for the past three days. The town hall, at the origin of this consultation, has undertaken to respect the result, known on Monday 13 or Tuesday 14 December.
The case starts when a crack is detected on the equine’s leg. The statue, weakened, was deposited in July 2020. Two months later, the new socialist mayor, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, proposed to replace it with a female figure and announced a debate ” open “ which has taken the form, in recent weeks, of a global reflection on the future of the Place de l’Hôtel-de-Ville through a cycle of conferences, workshops and the recent vote.
“My personal choice would be [l’avocate et militante féministe] Gisele Halimi »advances the elected cantor of equality between men and women, who has already had a school, a swimming pool or the ice rink renamed. “The subject is not Napoleon, it is female representation in the public space. In Rouen, only forty-one streets out of 1,000 bear a woman’s name, and not the most important ones, rue Jeanne-d’Arc excepted.argues the forties.
“Political recovery”
The salvo of criticism received in return testifies to the sensitivity of the subject, between a demonstration by the right-wing student union UNI, an online petition, indignant articles in the right-wing press and a column by the historian and director of the Napoleon Foundation , Thierry Lentz, in Le Figaroin September, where he denounced “an ideological will, between the rejection of national history and the temptation of a culture of cancellation”.
Alpes-Maritimes MP Eric Ciotti even offered to host the statue in his department, and far-right presidential candidate Eric Zemmour used the subject in his campaign launch clip .
“Political recovery and lies! If we wanted to unbolt, we would not invest 200,000 euros in the restoration of this statue, which would remain in a very visible place anyway”defends Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, also one of the spokespersons for the socialist presidential candidate, Anne Hidalgo.
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