Rouen Abandons Joan

According to Guillaume Pennelle, member of the Front National from Rouen, the city we associate so closely with Joan of Arc will abandon the wax museum dedicated to the heroine of the Hundred Years War:

The famous wax museum, devoted to Joan of Arc, place du Vieux-Marché, will close its doors in a few days for lack of a buyer. The site is up for sale, the collections sent to auction. And yet, 30,000 visitors, from all over the world, stroll along the paths of this welcoming, picturesque place, laden with history.

A new restaurant, a bank, an apartment building, will be the future of this site that is so dear to the hearts of the people of Rouen. The owner, newly retired, offered to turn his collection over to a local group for free if they would buy the site and maintain the museum. The municipality obviously did not respond to this request claiming it was too costly.

The Socialists do not seem to obey the same scruples when it comes to financing frivolous cultural projects (Rouen impressionnée, for example) or subsidizing self-proclaimed artists with public money.

Note: Rouen Impressionnée is an annual exhibition of Contemporary Art, begun in 2010 in an effort to bring this sort of art to the people of Rouen.

The story of Joan is probably too popular and what she represents too national for the local officials who are primarily interested in catering to a small elitist radical-chic clientele.

The people of Rouen who are so attached to the figure of Joan of Arc, will also appreciate the total absence of a reaction from the opposition party, that has converted to the ideology of the limousine liberals.

Note: I assume he means the UMP party.

The succeeding governments of the recent past strove to eradicate from school books the great men of French History. Their confederates in the local governments have taken it on themselves to eradicate the museums dedicated to these men.

The people of Rouen, who are looking ahead to the 2014 municipal elections, can count on the Front National to alert them to the bad political choices made by V. Fourneyron and Y. Robert.

Source: Nations Presse

Note: Valérie Fourneyron, a doctor of sports medicine by profession, former mayor of Rouen, is now minister of Sports and Youth in Hollande's government. Yvon Robert replaced her as mayor of Rouen.

According to Wikipedia, the private museum was the creation of Roger Parment in 1953. It was taken over in 1958 by André Préaux, who moved it to the place du Vieux-Marché right next to the stake where Joan of Arc was burned. The current owner is his son, Alain Préaux. He is apparently the one who was not able to sell it. Among the collections were 3000 books, 50 wax figures, and numerous donations of works of art.

In April 2008, a vandal broke in and decapitated one of the statues of Joan. Alain Préaux chased after him but was unable to catch him. Préaux suffered shock and knee injuries. The head was not recovered and until a new one was made, a substitute head - irony of ironies, that of an English girl - was placed on the body (below). Préaux said he did not want the tourists to be shocked by the sight of Joan decapitated.