This monumental statue of a father with his daughter on his shoulders scanning the horizon, an invitation to travel and contemplation, had been adopted by the inhabitants and walkers of the small beach of Saint-Adresse (Seine-Maritime), in a stone's throw from Le Havre.
A subscription for the reconstruction of Fabien Mérelle's work had even raised more than 34,000 euros, contributed by nearly 400 contributors, after its destruction by an arson on May 4, 2020.
The latter are likely to be very disappointed because the statue baptized "Until the end of the world", which should have found in this month of June the beach of Saint-Adresse, at the end of this dike at the end of the world which comes to be finally restored, will not return.
The site is in fact classified as a Natura 2000 zone. And unlike the first version of the resin statue, which should have been ephemeral - which it had not been since its installation in 2018 -, the new bronze model had to be come to anchor there definitively.
The administration was zealous
The new bronze version of the monumental statue of Fabien Mérelle will not find its place on the beach at Bout du monde in Saint-Adresse (Seine-Maritime) Laurent Lachevre
It was without counting on the services of the State which refused to issue the authorization essential for his resettlement. "I only learned about it a few days ago," assures Fabien Mérelle, who has just completed the new statue he wanted "even more beautiful, stronger, with even greater attention to detail". And he admits: "I still have trouble getting past the disappointment."
Because his work, more than 6 meters high, had been designed for this very special place where magic operated. For the time being, elected officials and local authorities ensure that they are thinking about a solution without wanting to call into question the State's decision. And the statue is expected to reappear on a temporary site pending a final solution. Fabien Mérelle only hopes that his creation will avoid ending up on a roundabout or in any place. "We'll have to find him another end of the world ..."