Did you know ? Great sons of the Meuse Ligier Richier (1500-1567) : born into a family of stonemasons, he is considered the greatest sculptor of the Renaissance. Most of his works are in the Meuse.They include the famous “Transi” at Bar-le-Duc, the Sepulchre and the Fainting Virgin at Saint-Mihiel…. See page 38. Jules Bastien Lepage born at Damvillers, was a naturalist and portraitist, the leader of a school of painting which reconciled academism and impressionism. There is a museum in his honour at Montmédy At Damvillers is a bronze statue representing Jules Bastien Lepage. It is the work of his friend, the sculptor Rodin. See page 62. There is another of Rodin’s works at Verdun. This statue, the original of which was produced in 1879, is a copy requested by the Netherlands in 1916, a year before the artist’s death. In 1920, the Dutch authorities offered the work to the town of Verdun. First sited on the Esplanade de la Roche, it was later installed on the Place Saint Paul.
of Le Grand Meaulnes was discovered in 1991 in the Forest of St Rémy. His tomb, and the grave where they were buried, are open to visitors. Jean IPOUSTEGUY (1920-2006). IPOUSTEGUY (he took this from his mother’s maiden name), whose real name was Jean ROBERT, was born at Dun-sur-Meuse in 1920. First of all he was absorbed in the painting which he had studied at evening classes in the city of Paris in 1938, but he then progressed in 1953 to drawing and watercolours, then writing. But it was in sculpture that he flourished above all. His work progressed very quickly beyond the pure lines inspired by Henri-Georges ADAM, to a more abrupt style with which he made his name world-wide. Returning to the Meuse and his roots at the end of his life, he passed away at Doulcon on 8th February 2006.
Jean Berain, born at Saint-Mihiel in 1639, was Louis XIV’s ornamentalist. He made the costumes for Lully’s operas and the court entertainments. It was Maurice Barrès who gave the Voie Sacrée its name.A few figures: day and night, in both directions, one vehicle every 14 seconds carried troops, artillery, munitions, wounded, food, or, each week, 50,000 tonnes of equipment and provisions and 90,000 men. The maintenance of this route required 900,000 tonnes of pebbles. The Voie Sacrée has become a national monument, and is the only national highway in France not required to be numbered. Its kilometre posts are surmounted by a poilu’s helmet, and decorated with martyr’s palms. See page 20.
André Maginot (1877 - 1932). A French politician, especially known for having allowed the building of the Maginot Line. Although born in Paris, André Maginot came from a family whose origins go back to the beginning of the 18th century in the annals of Revigny-sur-Ornain (Meuse). In 1909, at the age of 33, he began his political career when he was elected General Councillor for the Canton of Revigny-sur-Ornain, then Député (Member of Parliament) for Bar-le-Duc, which he remained until his death.
At SAMPIGNY, a few kilometres south of Saint-Mihiel, is “Le Clos”, the summer residence of Raymond Poincaré. Today the building is a museum devoted to this man, born in the Meuse, who was President of the Republic from 1913 to 1920 during the difficult years of the Great War. See page 26. Pierre Michaux, born in Bar-le-Duc in 1813, invented the pedal bicycle in 1861 with his son Ernest, and then the motor bicycle in 1870.
Fernand Braudel (1902 - 1985). Historian, born in Lumeville-en-Ornois. Qualified as a history teacher in 1923, Fernand Braudel was unable to obtain a post at the Bar-le-Duc lycée, and was sent by the vagaries of the public-appointments system to French Algeria. He then went on to teach in Brazil. After World War II, he joined the historical magazine Annales, Économies, Sociétés, Civilisations (Annals, Economies, Societies, and Civilisations), and taught at the Collège de France from 1949. He opened history up to the study of large geographical areas and phenomena covering long periods, and became interested in pre-industrial European economics. He was elected to the Académie Française on 14 June 1984. He died in the Savoie on 27 November 1985. Fernand Braudel is internationally recognised as one of the greatest historians of his time.
Frédéric Dyckhoff invented the Diesel engine in 1897 at Barle-Duc.As he could not find a financial backer in France, he sold his invention in Germany to Mr. DIESEL. Rémi-Isidore Exelmans born in Bar-le-Duc in 1775. He was a Marshal of France, a hero of the Imperial Cavalry, and fought his last battle at Rocquencourt in 1815 against the Prussians. Nicolas-Charles Oudinot orn at Bar-le-Duc in 1775.A Peer and Marshal of France, Duke of Reggio and Governor of the Invalides. He fought with distinction at Austerlitz and Wagram. At St Rémy la Calonne lie the remains of Alain Fournier and his companions.After disappearing in battle in 1914, the author 68