Monument to the dead of Laon

The architect Charles Abella (1879-1961) was commissioned after the First World War to design a monument for Laon: originally, it was to take the form of a Victory and be built in the upper town, on the Saint-Vincent plateau.
The project then evolved, and the Mont de Vaux, halfway between the upper and lower towns, was chosen as the site for this monumental sculpture (around 16 metres high), both Minerva and Victory, facing the upper town.

The monument took almost two years to erect, and was officially unveiled in early summer 1926.

It should be noted that it is flanked on its right by a stele in tribute to the concentration camp martyrs of the Second World War (1957), and on its left by a plaque in tribute to the French Marshals of the Second World War (2000s).