Le Gaulois Mourant

Mathis BERNARD & Quentin JULIA write...

This dramatic statue in a realistic style shows a Gaulish warrior trying to save his injured friend. He calls out for help.

It was made by Henri Gréber. He was born in 1854 in Beauvais and he died in 1941 in Paris. He was a sculptor, but also an engraver and ceramist. He studied at the local School of Arts. In the 1870s, his father built the ceramics factory in Beauvais.

Today the statue is in the Virlogeux public garden in Riom. This public garden was at first a place for the local fair, then a training area for the soldiers from the Vercingetorix barracks, and finally it was fitted out as a garden for the visit of Napoleon III on July 5th, 1862.

In 1902, thanks to the mayor Étienne Clémentel, two new statues were added to the public garden, one of which was the Gaulois Mourant (The Dying Gaul). The name of the garden is a tribute to Claude and Pierre Virlogeux, Résistance fighters of the Second World War. The public garden was renovated between 2011 and 2013.

The two Gaulish soldiers in our photos were taken from a low angle to give a dramatic effect. The fuzzy effect is our way of symbolizing an event forgotten in the mists of time…

What do local people think of the statue?

Paul, 17, pupil at Virlogeux Lycée, never noticed this statue before and finds it really useless. "It is not visible, it’s badly placed,” he said. He apparently does not like statues; he does not see the point of them, and so does not pay attention to them.

Isabelle, 38, pharmacist, goes past this statue in the park every day on her way to work. She says she likes this statue because it evokes mystery. She also likes it because it is not showy and does not shock. She finds that the park is very attractive and this statue has its place.

Clothilde, now 72, often came to play in the park with her friends when she was a girl. She does not feel the statue has a particular interest for the park but it has a sentimental value for her. She confided that it brings back a lot of memories.

Dialogue between the Gaulish warriors:

First warrior: (cries in pain) Ahhh!

Second warrior: Come on, you can make it!

First warrior: Leave me, I’ll just slow you down…

Second warrior: I have to take you out of here! The Romans are going to catch us, come on, get up before they kill us both!

First warrior: I don’t have the strength to stand anymore…

Second warrior: I won’t let you down, get up, man!

First warrior: No, leave me, tell my sons that I am proud of them and… (dies suddenly)