Erection of a Standing Stone

in homage to the deportees of the Paris Commune interned in the Citadel of Château d’Oléron

From April 1871 to August 1872, 6,000 Paris Commune fighters were interned in the forts along the Charente coast, in Rochefort harbour, on the islands of Aix, Madame, Oléron and Ré, and in Fouras and Fort Boyard, before being brought before the Versailles war councils. At one time or another, they passed through these prisons.

It is in their memory that the Libre Pensée 17 has accepted the project by sculptors Philippe Ardy and Victorien Vergara, supported by the Château d’Oléron Town Hall, to erect a ‘Standing Stone’ to pay tribute to the Communards interned at the Citadelle, before their departure into exile.