The Burghers of Calais

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Rodin's The Burghers of Calais in Calais, France

The Burghers of Calais (Les Bourgeois de Calais) is one of the most famous sculptures by Auguste Rodin, completed in 1888. It serves as a monument to an occurrence in 1347 during the Hundred Years War, when Calais, an important French port on the English Channel, was under siege by the English for over a year.

The story goes that England's Edward III offered to spare the city if six influential men, wearing nooses around their necks, would turn over the keys to the city and castle, as well as their lives. To prevent any further loss of life, Eustache de Saint Pierre led an envoy of six influential men to surrender the city, which had been abandoned by Philip VI. Though the burghers expected to be executed, their lives were spared by the intervention of England's Queen, Philippa of Hainault.

The Burghers of Calais in Victoria Tower Gardens, London, England. Under French law no more than twelve casts of this piece were permitted after Rodin’s death. The London casting, purchased by the British Government in 1911, is one of them

The monument was proposed by the mayor of Calais for the town's square in 1880. Rodin's design was controversial, as it did not present the burghers in a heroic manner, rather they appeared sullen and worn. The monument was innovative in that it presented the burghers at the same level as the viewers, rather than on a traditional pedestal, although until 1924 the city council of Calais, against Rodin's wishes, displayed the statue on an elevated base.

While the original statue still stands in Calais, other versions stand in

• Victoria Tower Gardens in the shadow of the Houses of Parliament in London
• the gardens of the Musée Rodin in Paris,
• the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia,
• the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California,
• at Stanford University in California,
• the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York,
• the sculpture garden of the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C.
• the Israel Museum in Jerusalem
• the sculpture garden of the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, and
• at Glyptoteket in Copenhagen

See also

• Siege of Calais

Musée Rodin