The tightrope walker and artist Nathan Paulin crossed Wednesday evening the entrance of the port of La Rochelle on a rope about fifty meters high. Nathan Paulin, French "highliner" holder of several world records, crossed back and forth the 277 m that separates the Lantern Tower from the Saint-Nicolas Tower, marking the entrance to the Old Port of La Rochelle, in front of 5000,<> spectators, according to the police.
First suspended from his thong, Nathan Paulin performed a pirouette to stand barefoot on his wire. During his progress, he pauses several times by sitting cross-legged or lying down, collecting the applause of the crowd and the honking of a dozen small boats massed in front of the port. "It's impressive. It may be tied, but you are never safe from an accident. He lay down, sit, played to move the cable, we feel that he is comfortable, "says Philippe François, a tourist passing through La Rochelle.
The project is above all to enhance French heritage. With these performances, passers-by have the opportunity to take another look at a heritage site. "It is when acrobats drown in the immensity of a landscape that poetry blossoms. We seek to create a contemplative, even meditative state, so that spectators can look at the monuments differently." confided the director of the National Theater of Chaillot, at the initiative of the event with the Center of National Monuments, to Franceinfo. Nathan Paulin will participate in a new animation in Bordeaux on Friday.
See alsoThe perched crossing of Nathan Paulin
Star of the "highline", Nathan Paulin holds the world record for distance on a slackline with the crossing of 2200 meters made last year at Mont-Saint-Michel. This tightrope walker from Haute-Savoie is used to spectacular crossings. He set his first length record in 2014, covering 601 metres on the ground in the Lyon region. On two occasions, Nathan Paulin had also connected the Eiffel Tower to the Trocadero in 2017 and 2021.