La France Renaissante

The gilded bronze statue of a woman raising her arms toward the sky sits on a high pedestal at the center of the Place des Martyrs de la Résistance. This is La France Renaissante, created by sculptor Maxime Real del Sarte in nineteen thirty. The figure depicts Joan of Arc emerging from shackles, representing the rebirth of the nation after the Great War. Real del Sarte, who lost his own left arm in that conflict, modeled the figure’s face after his sister.