Photos

A Day in London – Page 10

The Burghers of Calais

A sculpture symbolising the epitomy of civic sacrifice, Auguste RODIN’s ‘The Burghers of Calais’ was purchased as a copy by the British government in 1911 and placed in the Victoria Palace Gardens next to the Palace of Westminster (the seat of the British Parliament) in 1915. A symbolic act in the time of the Great War. I came to photograph this partly because I knew the story and partly because many years ago a sculptor friend snuck into the gardens in the early hours of the morning and took a cast of his favourite burgher’s head! I’d never made the effort to see it before. It’s amazing to think that this scene is almost 100% what someone would have seen from this spot and angle 90 years ago.

The sculpture commemorates an incident in the Hundred Years War between the English and the French. In 1347, the city of Calais was besieged by the English, led by King Edward III. Edward demanded the surrender of the city. To stop any further loss of life, the oldest Burgher, Eustache de Saint Pierre, led a group of six (here I photograph four of them) of Calais' leading citizens to the English. However, thanks to the intervention of Edward's pregnant wife, Phillippa, who had braved the journey to be with her husband, the lives of all six Burghers were spared.

Their willingness to sacrifice themselves for the benefit of the populace is an act of bravery which acts as a symbolic reminder to our civic leaders of what such leadership might ultimately require.

It is such values, despite the erosions of time and fashion, which have shaped commonalities in our European past and which, when you study such stories of sacrifice the world over - beyond our Eurocentric viewpoints, you can recognise in people of true honour everywhere. These are not the kind of people who would suffer the killing of an innocent bystander but would rather lay their own lives on the line, with fear perhaps, but also with some inner dignity to benefit the greatest good. There is nothing heroic about this statue, the men look downcast, under pressure and in some despair – it is intensely sad and human but they have chosen to do something of the most rare value for their fellow human beings.

Rodin always wanted this sculpture to be presented at ground level but here it is on a pedestal, I really think the artist’s wishes should be respected.