Gëlle Fra in Luxembourg, Luxembourg

The Place de la Constitution is a balcony overlooking the Pétrusse valley in the heart of Luxembourg City, a stone’s throw from the Place Guillaume II and the Cathedral. The Monument of Remembrance stands at its centre. The Gëlle Fra (« The Golden Lady » in Luxembourgish) stands at the top of the monument’s granite column. It is a representation of the goddess Niké holding a laurel wreath. It is covered with a layer of shiny yellow gold. It is 3.3 metres high and 1.5 tonnes in weight. The statue is a symbol of the city and a must-see for tourists… But what is less known is the emotional attachment of the Luxembourgers to the statue since its creation in 1923 and the fact that it has been missing for 26 years!

The attachment of the public began even before the creation of the monument: in 1918, the National Commission for the Fallen Soldiers was set up with the idea of erecting a monument in honour of the Luxembourgers who volunteered for the Allied Forces during the First World War. It should be noted that this is a citizens’ initiative. It is not a government initiative. The competition for the creation of this monument was launched on 14 February 1920. It was won by Claus Cito (out of 18 participants). A nationwide fund-raising campaign was launched. Two stamps were issued with a surcharge. On 27 May 1923 the monument was inaugurated.

During the Second World War, Luxembourg was under occupation from the 10th of May 1940. The occupying forces soon talked of demolishing the monument. However, fearing demonstrations and hostile reactions from the population, the Nazi authorities waited several months before doing so. On the 19th of October, an attempt was made to bring down the Gëlle Fra with ropes, but the ropes broke. Although the attempt was unsuccessful, it provoked a public outcry. An anti-occupation demonstration was held around the monument for the rest of the day. On 21 October, the statue finally fell from the monument. It was damaged and the column was toppled. Broken into three pieces, Gëlle Fra was hidden by a lady owning a shop in Hollerich. The two statues on the pedestal were removed the same day and managed to be hidden. As for the granite pedestal, the companies in charge of the demolition found excuses to delay the work (or even the workers themselves, who refused to work on its destruction!). In the end, it was the municipal workers, threatened with dismissal if they refused, who had to remove the pedestal of the monument.

After the Liberation, the pedestal was rebuilt in 1944 and 1945 and the two statues on the pedestal were reinstalled in 1950. It remained to rebuild the column and restore the Gëlle Fra. The statue was exhibited during the Resistance Week in 1955, then nothing more. The statue remained missing until 1981, when it was found under the stands of the Josy-Barthel stadium. How and why it ended up there is still not known! The statue was restored in 1984. It was unveiled on 23 June 1985. Note that the statue is slightly different from its original configuration: It now looks down, with its chin pressed to its chest. This slight difference is the result of the fall of the statue on its head in 1940.

In 2010, the statue was removed from the monument and flown to China to stand outside the Luxembourg pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo. Almost one in two Luxembourgers opposed the move, according to a poll conducted shortly before the event. Back in the country in November 2010, it was on display for 6 months in Bascharage, the home village of sculptor Claus Cito. After just 6 weeks on display, 37,000 people had already come to see it up close. This proves that the people of Luxembourg are still attached to the Gëlle Fra. It was finally reinstalled on the Monument of Remembrance in 2011.