The Burghers of Calais is a bronze group by Auguste Rodin, made from 1884 to 1889. The municipal corporation of Calais invited several artists to submit proposals in 1884. The work commemorates the Hundred Years' War episode in which Calais surrendered to the English after an 11-month siege.
The city had sought a statue of Eustache de Saint Pierre since 1845, and two earlier artists never finished one. David d'Angers died, and Auguste Clésinger was stopped by the Franco-Prussian War. Rodin instead depicted all six burghers. He showed pain, anguish and fatalism rather than glory, with no allegorical figures and no pyramidal arrangement.
The main cast was first installed in 1895 on a large pedestal in front of Parc Richelieu. It later moved to the front of the new town hall, on a much lower base. Rodin wanted it at ground level so townsfolk could almost bump into the figures. There are twelve original casts, the last made in 1995.
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