The sea-horses
Wild bronze with fish bodies โ among France's most alive sculptures.
Jibi44 โ CC BY-SA 3.0 ยท Romainbehar โ CC0 ยท Nguyenhuuthanh โ CC BY-SA 3.0 ยท Vรญctor Perea Ros โ CC BY-SA 4.0
Moderate Revolution deputies, mostly from Bordeaux's Gironde, who wanted revolution without bloodbaths and were devoured by it: guillotined in 1793. A century later Bordeaux memorialised them as extremism's victims โ the monument is a political lesson as much as an artistic one.
The Quinconces was laid as a military parade ground in the nineteenth century over an old fortress, and its vast emptiness became its use: book and antiques fairs, twice-yearly funfairs, concerts โ an events ground, not a garden.
The Chartrons quarter north, with its antiques and Rue Notre-Dame โ Bordeaux's stylish district โ or the tram from the square towards the Citรฉ du Vin. South, the great shopping street starts minutes away.
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At the edge of the Place des Quinconces โ among Europe's largest squares โ rises a 43-metre column crowned by winged Liberty in flight, honouring the Girondin deputies of Bordeaux executed in the Revolution's years of Terror. The monument's glory is its two basins: roaring fountains centred on bronze chariots drawn by wild sea-horses with fishes' bodies โ these 'horses' are among France's most famous and most kinetic bronzes; you can almost hear them. The Germans dismantled them in the war for melting; resistance workers hid them piece by piece until they returned. The square around is Bordeaux's great ground for fairs and seasonal funfairs, the monument its permanent theatrical edge โ a dazzling free stop between the centre and the Chartrons quarter.
Wild bronze with fish bodies โ among France's most alive sculptures.
43 metres crowned by Liberty in bronze flight.
Dismantled by the Nazis for melting, hidden piecemeal by resisters.
Place des Quinconces, 33000 Bordeaux