Unbolted a year ago to be restored, the statue of Napoleon installed in Rouen hid a chest in its base.
Documents dated to the 19th century bearing the names of the donors of the monument have been discovered, as well as a sealed brass cylinder.
Read also: The mysteries of the chest hidden since the 19th century in the base of a statue of Napoleon in Rouen
As reported by
France Bleu Normandie
, the bundle of paper was entrusted to the Coralie Barbe workshop, after having been left in the fridge for several months to eliminate bacteria before being restored.
The documents will then be scanned and returned to the prefecture by September.
As for the brass cylinder, it has finally been opened with the greatest care.
It contained coins from 1865, when the statue was put in place.
The seven bronze coins and the five gold and silver coins all bear the effigy of the Emperor Napoleon III.
"
We will entrust the coins to a numismatist for an expertise,
" explained Élizabeth Labaye, municipal councilor responsible for Heritage and Matrimony, at
Ouest-France
. “
They are surprising because, in general, during the installation of a statue - that is to say in 1865 -, it is the medals that one slips into the heart of the work, not the pieces. In any case, in 1865, it was Napoleon III who reigned over the Empire… We are going to make these items available to the François-Villon library
, ”she added.
At the start of the school year, a consultation with the inhabitants of Rouen will be organized to decide where the statue will be placed. On the site of General de Gaulle where she has throne for 150 years, the mayor of the city Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol had launched the idea of installing a monument in honor of the feminist lawyer Gisèle Halimi.
