The tomb of a 19th-Century journalist, Victor Noir, is one of the most visited in the famous Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris, due to its reputation as a fertility symbol, promising love and fecundity.
Oxidation has been rubbed awayWikipedia
Proof lies in the appearance of the tomb where the green oxidation that has built up over the years due to exposure of the bronze to the elements has been rubbed away in three areas: around the mouth, the genitals and the feet.
Legend has it that if you touch the feet, you will meet the love of your life.
If you want to bring back a lover that has left you, a kiss on the mouth will do it.
And if you rub around the flies of the figure's trousers, women will become fertile, and men, virile.
A martyr to Republicans
Portrait of Victor NoirDisdéri (1819-1889). Photographe
Victor Noir’s first claim to fame was as a martyr to the Republican cause after he was shot dead in 1870, by Prince Pierre-Napoléon Bonaparte, a cousin of the Emperor Napoléon III.
At that time, Victor Noir, aged 22, was a young ambitious journalist. His real name was Yvan Salmon and he took on a pen name when he moved to Paris.
A friend of his, another journalist, was in dispute with Prince Bonaparte over an article the Prince had published. He sent Victor Noir and another friend to Prince Bonaparte’s house as his seconds, to challenge the Emperor’s cousin to a duel.
It is not known what the exact sequence of events were, but the visit ended in the Prince shooting Victor Noir dead.
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The case came to court. The Prince claimed he had acted in self-defence and was acquitted.
Parisians were furious, seeing this as proof of imperial repression. Over 100,000 Republican supporters turned up to the journalist’s funeral.
He was originally buried at Neuilly-sur-Seine, but after the overthrow of the Emperor’s regime he was seen as a hero of the Republic and in 1891, his body was moved to Père Lachaise.
On the tomb is a bronze statue of Victor Noir, in the position he was found in when he was shot down, created by one of the most famous sculptors of the time, Jules Dalou, who was also a supporter of the Republic.
A site of love and legacy
Flowers are left on the tomb as a token of thanks for a successful pregnancyMRW _Wikipedia
It is thought Victor Noir’s later claim to fame was started by students who were intrigued by a protuberance around the crutch, and since then the tomb has become one of the most visited in the cemetery.
Flowers are frequently left there and sometimes even babies’ shoes, as a token of thanks for a successful pregnancy.
In 2004, barriers were erected around the tomb by the Mairie in Paris to protect it, but after protests these were taken away and visitors were simply asked to remember that respect to others includes bodies in tombs in a cemetery.
