Monument
A life-sized bronze statue was sculpted by Jules Dalou to mark his grave, portrayed in a realistic style as though he had just fallen on the street, dropping his hat which is depicted beside him. The sculpture has a very noticeable protuberance in Noir's trousers. This has made it one of the most popular memorials for women to visit in the famous cemetery. Myth says that placing a flower in the upturned top hat after kissing the statue on the lips and rubbing its genital area will enhance fertility, bring a blissful sex life, or, in some versions, a husband within the year. As a result of the legend, those particular components of the oxidized bronze statue are rather well-worn.
In 2004 a fence was erected around the statue of Noir, to deter superstitious people from touching the statue. However, due to a fake protest of the "female population of Paris" led by French TV anchor Péri Cochin, it was torn down again.
Read more about this topic: Victor Noir
Famous quotes containing the word monument:
“Their monument sticks like a fishbone
in the city’s throat.
Its Colonel is as lean
as a compass-needle.”
—Robert Lowell (1917–1977)
“If a man do not erect in this age his own tomb ere he dies, he shall live no longer in monument than the bell rings and the widow weeps.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The volatile truth of our words should continually betray the inadequacy of the residual statement. Their truth is instantly translated; its literal monument alone remains.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)