Les Quais de Seine

... erase the boundary created by the continuity of Chomedey-de-Maisonneuve and Georges-Vanier avenues, and reduce the amount of traffic that transits both sides of the Bouchon de Champagne without stopping.

This requalification has restored a legitimate historical value to the place of water in our city and marked the presence of the hyper-centre by reconnecting the head and body of the Bouchon de Champagne.

Ever more beautiful, Troyes welcomes two new statues by Belgian artist Tom Frantzen. Wait for me!" and "La Ribambelle Joyeuse", both humorous odes to life, grace the quays of Troyes.

They stand proudly on the banks of the Troyes Seine Canal. Tom Frantzen's bronze works Wait for me, quai Dampierre, and La Ribambelle Joyeuse, quai La Fontaine, have been playing the starlet and delighting the hearts of strollers and tourists alike since early October.
The Belgian artist is renowned for his creations on the borderline between the real and the fantastic, often installed in public spaces (Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, Tervuren, Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, Antwerp, Steenokkerzeel, Tournai, Brussels...). With the Trojan sculptures Wait for me! and La Ribambelle Joyeuse, Frantzen, whose style is akin to a new form of Flemish fantasy art, offers a sometimes humorous, sometimes poetic take on art in the city.

Other sculptural beauties to admire
The specific commission for these remarkable installations is part of the City of Troyes' policy of urban requalification and city beautification. These works enrich an artistic itinerary initiated in 2012-2013 on the quays of Troyes. Their redevelopment in 2011 has, over the years, been accompanied by the installation of contemporary statues, adding even more cachet and romanticism to these strolling spaces in the heart of the city, such as Le Coeur de Troyes (by Michèle Caillaud-Houël and Thierry Kayo), La Jeune fille qui donne un baiser (by Sjer Jacobs), Lili, la dame au chapeau (by Andràs Lapis).
Most recently, a sculpture in homage to Simone Veil, by Michèle Caillaud-Houël and Thierry Kayo, has also taken its place in front of the former Hauts-Clos hospital, renamed Hôpital Simone-Veil.

*Wait for me! - This humorous and poetic work features a small dog who frightens a flock of birds, causing them to fly away. The group of birds is reminiscent of the cranes, emblematic of the Aube department, which fly over it every year.

*La Ribambelle joyeuse - This group of sculptures depicts a group of children accompanied by a penguin and a duck. Blending fantasy and Belgian humor, it is strongly influenced by Pieter Brueghel and Jérôme Bosch.