Un monument sur la frontière : commémorer la guerre de 1870 à Mars-la-Tour (1871-1914)

Located in the village of Mars-la-Tour in the department of Meurthe-et-Moselle, an 1870 war memorial, inaugurated in 1875, commemorates the French soldiers who fell at nearby battlefields during the fighting between 16 and 18 August 1870. It was sculpted by Bogino and erected after a national fundra...

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Main Author: Benoît Vaillot
Format: Article
Language:fra
Published: Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication 2019-02-01
Series:In Situ
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Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/insitu/20090
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author Benoît Vaillot
author_facet Benoît Vaillot
author_sort Benoît Vaillot
collection DOAJ
description Located in the village of Mars-la-Tour in the department of Meurthe-et-Moselle, an 1870 war memorial, inaugurated in 1875, commemorates the French soldiers who fell at nearby battlefields during the fighting between 16 and 18 August 1870. It was sculpted by Bogino and erected after a national fundraising campaign launched by local inhabitants. This monument, with the later addition of a church and a local museum dedicated to the 1870 war, soon became an important landmark for the cult of the dead. It also became an attraction for memory-based tourism. Ceremonies took place there every year until 1914, attracting thousands of participants who commemorated the memory of the dead. The Mars-la-Tour monument became an authentic centre for local remembrance. One of its specificities was its location, only one kilometre from the new border separating France from Germany between 1871 and 1918. This paper has several aims: to offer a contribution to the history of border memorials; to revisit the historiography of French war commemorations; and, finally, to study the genesis of a specific monument in Lorraine, focusing on social practices as seen from below. The ambition is to avoid the top-down approach of heritage recognition processes and to pay attention to the local logics and actors at the border.
format Article
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institution Kabale University
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publisher Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication
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spelling doaj-art-62bccbe138b24470b8fc8dc14baadd512024-12-09T14:07:38ZfraMinistère de la Culture et de la CommunicationIn Situ1630-73052019-02-013810.4000/insitu.20090Un monument sur la frontière : commémorer la guerre de 1870 à Mars-la-Tour (1871-1914)Benoît VaillotLocated in the village of Mars-la-Tour in the department of Meurthe-et-Moselle, an 1870 war memorial, inaugurated in 1875, commemorates the French soldiers who fell at nearby battlefields during the fighting between 16 and 18 August 1870. It was sculpted by Bogino and erected after a national fundraising campaign launched by local inhabitants. This monument, with the later addition of a church and a local museum dedicated to the 1870 war, soon became an important landmark for the cult of the dead. It also became an attraction for memory-based tourism. Ceremonies took place there every year until 1914, attracting thousands of participants who commemorated the memory of the dead. The Mars-la-Tour monument became an authentic centre for local remembrance. One of its specificities was its location, only one kilometre from the new border separating France from Germany between 1871 and 1918. This paper has several aims: to offer a contribution to the history of border memorials; to revisit the historiography of French war commemorations; and, finally, to study the genesis of a specific monument in Lorraine, focusing on social practices as seen from below. The ambition is to avoid the top-down approach of heritage recognition processes and to pay attention to the local logics and actors at the border.https://journals.openedition.org/insitu/20090heritageLorrainefrontiermuseummemorywar memorials
spellingShingle Benoît Vaillot
Un monument sur la frontière : commémorer la guerre de 1870 à Mars-la-Tour (1871-1914)
In Situ
heritage
Lorraine
frontier
museum
memory
war memorials
title Un monument sur la frontière : commémorer la guerre de 1870 à Mars-la-Tour (1871-1914)
title_full Un monument sur la frontière : commémorer la guerre de 1870 à Mars-la-Tour (1871-1914)
title_fullStr Un monument sur la frontière : commémorer la guerre de 1870 à Mars-la-Tour (1871-1914)
title_full_unstemmed Un monument sur la frontière : commémorer la guerre de 1870 à Mars-la-Tour (1871-1914)
title_short Un monument sur la frontière : commémorer la guerre de 1870 à Mars-la-Tour (1871-1914)
title_sort un monument sur la frontiere commemorer la guerre de 1870 a mars la tour 1871 1914
topic heritage
Lorraine
frontier
museum
memory
war memorials
url https://journals.openedition.org/insitu/20090
work_keys_str_mv AT benoitvaillot unmonumentsurlafrontierecommemorerlaguerrede1870amarslatour18711914