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The Sasson

Erected in 1892 to celebrate the centenary of Savoie’s first attachment to revolutionary France, the statue of La Sasson stands proudly in Place du Centenaire. Her name, which means “robust woman” in Savoyard, matches her appearance: a female figure clutching the French flag to her heart.

But her destiny was an eventful one. In 1942, requisitioned like so many other bronze monuments to be cast in Germany, it was unbolted and sent to Hamburg, decapitated to fit into a railway carriage. The empty plinth then became a place of resistance: flowers were laid there, people gathered, and on 14 July 1942, more than 3,000 people from Chambéry sang La Marseillaise and the Chant des Allobroges, broadcast that very evening by Radio Londres.

Found after the war, his mutilated body was forgotten for a long time in municipal repositories. It was only in 1982, thanks to the discovery of a cast of his head and the efforts of the Friends of Old Chambéry, that the statue was brought back to life and returned to its original position.

Over time, the Sasson has become an emblem of Savoie, of memory and of freedom, a reminder that a monument can survive history, suffer oppression and be reborn as a symbol of collective hope.