A bronze cast of one of Auguste Rodin’s most famous and acclaimed sculptures stands prominently in Victoria Tower Gardens with the Houses of Parliament as its back-drop. Rodin’s sculpture, The Burghers of Calais, was created to commemorate the siege of the French coastal town of Calais in 1347 during the Hundred-Years War with England. It represents the six distinguished citizens of Calais who volunteered to be taken into captivity by King Edward III in order to spare their city from extermination. Rodin’s emotional sculpture portrays the men as they came forward prepared to die, bareheaded and barefooted with nooses around their necks, carrying the keys to the city. The Burghers of Calais were eventually spared execution by the King’s pregnant and sympathetic Queen. Rodin won the commission for the monument by the town of Calais in January 1885, and the original sculpture was installed ten years later in 1895. Apparently, under French law, no more than twelve casts of Rodin’s memorial were permitted and the London sculpture was cast in 1908.
- The Burghers of Calais, by Auguste Rodin (1840 – 1917)
- Victoria Tower Gardens, London
- Underground: Westminster