Bûcher Jeanne d'Arc

Close to Ste Jeanne-d?Arc Church, in the Place du Vieux-March‚, this large cross shows the exact place where Joan of Arc was burnt at stake. A statue of Joan of Arc is built against the church, facing her place of torture.

This is where Joan of Arc was burnt at stake on 30th May 1431 in front of the British authorities, the representatives of the Church and a large crowd. As discussed by the judges of her second trial in 1456, a memorial cross still stands, almost 5 centuries later, at the exact location of her torture. Everything has changed in the square. Only the ruins of the former Saint-Sauveur Church and the restaurant La Couronne, the oldest inn in France, remain from her time.
Close by, under the extending roof of the church that creates a sort of covered gallery, is written the beginning of a famous quote delivered by Andr‚ Malraux in Rouen during his speech of 31st May 1964 during the Fˆtes Jeanne d?Arc (Joan of Arc Festival):
?Joan of Arc, without tomb and without portrait, you who knew that the grave of heroes is the heart of the living?

Joan's face at stake:
The statue of Joan of Arc at the stake was made of stone by Maxime Real del Sarte in partnership with Roger de Villers in 1927. It was first introduced at the French Artists Fair where it received a silver medal before being displayed in the place de la Concorde in Paris and then inaugurated in Rouen in 1929. Real del Sarte was the sculptor who made the most statues of Rouen's heroine. Between 1909 and 1953, he made no less than 36 different sculptures! Towering 3 metres high, the statue weighs over 4 tonnes. The emphasis is on the graceful and serene face of Joan praying, her feet on the stake and flames licking her robe. The sculptor thus said, ?The idea of Peace needed a face: may that face be that of Joan, Sainte of the homeland, angel of peace, sublime messenger of grace!?

This statue has been listed a Historic Monument Monuments since 30 October 2002. There are two monumental reproductions. One has been standing on the bank of the Rio de la Plata, in Buenos Aires, Argentina since 1948 and the other can be seen at Montreal University in Quebec since 1951.