Memorial to the Abolition of Slavery (Nantes, France)

Memorial to the Abolition of Slavery (Nantes, France)

Subject (Topic)
Slavery-Emancipation
Slavery-Abolition
Middle Passage
Transatlantic Slave Trade
Slave Trade
Nantes, France

Subject (Object Type)
Memorial

Erected as a space to remember the atrocities of slavery and to commemorate all past and present efforts to resist it, the memorial was constructed in the former center of the French slave trade, Nantes. Designed by an artist and an architect, the memorial consists of “an enormous open-air staircase [which] leads to the subterranean passageway where visitors are welcomed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, behind which the word ‘freedom’ is displayed in over fifty languages from countries on every continent affected by the slave trade. At the western end of the passageway, key historical dates and locations highlight the scale not only of the events that led to the abolition of the slave trade but of the ongoing fight against enslavement today” (see bibliographic citation).

Wodiczko, Krzysztof (artist), 1943-
Bonder, Julian (architect)

Mémorial de L'Abolition de L'Esclavage, Nantes

Opening Ceremony: March 25, 2012

To learn more about the memorial, click here.

JPEG

English

Building and Structures

Quai de la Fosse, Passerelle Victor-Schoelcher, 44000 Nantes, France

GSD News, "Memorial by Krzysztof Wodiczko and Julian Bonder (MDes ’96) unveiled in Nantes, France" Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Accessed April 29, 2019. https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/2012/04/memorial-by-krzysztof-wodiczko-and-julian-bonder-mdess-96-to/

Renée Ater

Building and Structure