Monument aux morts de Pantin

The Monument aux morts de Pantin features a grieving woman in stone, draped in a shawl, standing before a wall inscribed with the names of the local men who did not return from the First World War. Sculptor Paul Niclausse carved her to embody the quiet exhaustion of a town losing its sons. When the monument was inaugurated in nineteen twenty-two, the municipal council insisted on a secular dedication, explicitly banning religious symbols to mark the state's role in the national mourning process.