two statues soon installed in homage to William the Conqueror
The City of Caen will welcome, by December at the foot of its castle, two statues of William the Conqueror and Mathilde.
Work to accommodate the two new statues of William the Conqueror and his wife Mathilde began at the end of August in front of the Château de Caen. A base, 4.5 meters long in white stones, has been installed, report Le Figaro. It will host the two bronze statues with a height of 3.5 meters and weighing 1.6 tons.
Inauguration in December
It is in November that it will be sealed there while the official inauguration is scheduled for December 9, announce our colleagues. The two statues were designed by the artist Claude Quiesse, a native of Caen and who lives in Lion-sur-Mer.
“It’s really a source of pride because it’s my hometown,” he explained to the newspaper last year. Freedom Caen Revealing a model of the statue made out of rods.
The representation of the two characters is “peaceful” without armor or sword. It is a question of showing “Guillaume who walks with his wife Mathilde, at the foot of his castle”, specifies Claude Quiesse with the local newspaper.
This installation should make it possible to honor William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy and emblematic figure of Caen. “There was a real demand from tourists”, confirms, with the FigaroEmmanuelle Hardouin, director of the Caen-la-Mer tourist office.
The Normandy region will also celebrate, in 2027, the millennium of the birth of William the Conqueror. Two years before, in 2025, the city of Caen will celebrate its thousand years of history.