A sculpture of King Arthur, the Round Table and some of his most famous knights is halfway completed in the middle of a forest in Brittany, thanks to a local artist.
Six more knights are set to join the six figures already present, but the project so far has been a huge success, with millions of views on social media and hundreds of visitors each day.
Les Nouveaux Chevaliers de Brocéliande (new knights of Brocéliande) are located near Néant-sur-Yvel, Morbihan (Brittany) and are free to visit.
“What is important is that these sculptures, once completed, will belong to the public, and it is thanks to them that I have the energy to continue my work. It is a lot of work, I am no longer 20 years old, but when I see all the compliments on social media, in messages and in emails, it means so much to me,” said sculptor Michael Thomazo, 59, who created the knights.
Cultural impact
The Association de Sauvegarde du Val sans retour et de la forêt de Brocéliande (ASVB), charged with promoting the cultural heritage of Brocéliande, was originally behind the project, after being made aware of a similar representation at Stonehenge albeit without any knights.
The decision was taken to create a new association, the Nouveaux Chevaliers de Brocéliande, seeking to bring the knights and the Round Table to life. The design and sculpture was granted to Mr Thomazo, a local painter and sculptor of note.
Once fully completed, 12 knights will sit around the table: King Arthur, Lancelot, Gawain, Gaheris, Griflet, Kay, Percival, Mordred, Ywain, Bors, Gallahad and Segurant.
“I hope to be finished within three years, as long as the patrons continue to support us,” said Mr Thomazo.
There will also be an empty seat: the Siege Perilous, which is left empty for any new knight who is worthy of it.
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.Mr Thomazo has also sculpted Merlin’s face, which might magically appear and disappear at the Table, and a prototype of the Holy Grail, which can be seen in the village of Néant-sur-Yvel.
The sculptures are made out of resin moulded in polymer clay and measure around 180cm seated.
Each takes around three months to make. Mr Thomazo does all the sculpting and painting himself and he receives help for the moulding and the resin.
They weigh approximately 700kg when he sculpts them, going down to around 100kg when placed at the Table as resin is a lot lighter than the dense clay and moulds.
He was given free rein on the design of the characters, needing only to respect the colour codes and wardrobe of each character.
“Originally, I did not even want to take on the project because I was worried about the experts and esoterics, thinking it would be too complicated, but I took it on because I was given the freedom to design them how I wanted.”
It has been a far bigger success than he imagined.
“My children told me that I would have to come up with a copy and paste response to social media comments, as I could not possibly respond to each individual one,” he said. “I am very happy that it is so successful and that it has resonated with so many people.”
“Usually, I am a steampunk, Arthur Conan Doyle, industrial revolution fan, so this was a bit new to me. I luckily had some British friends, very adept at replicating mediaeval armour, who came to explain to me how they dressed, how they fought, etc.
“I then did the exact opposite! They encouraged me to do so, there was no point in doing it the same as everyone else. They told me, ‘take inspiration from Iron Man and Star Wars, not from history,’ and it has done very well.”
“I am very happy that I have been able to touch the heart of pop culture, those who are passionate about the Round Table without being excessive history buffs. I accidentally accessed a wider public by not following the codes of knights of the Middle Ages.”
