Little Prince Statue

Few are aware of it, including the inhabitants of Lyon, but a true tribute to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry can be found here. Look up, he is there, sitting over 5 metres high next to his most famous figure: the Little Prince. This reknowned French writer and pilot was born in Lyon in 1900 and joined the French Air Force during the Second World War. In 1943, he published one of the world’s best-known stories, The Little Prince, a poetic and philosophical work in the form of a children’s story that achieved unprecedented worldwide success. It remains one of the world’s most translated works, after the Bible. A year after publishing his greatest literary work, he left on a reconnaissance mission for the French army, from which he never returned. Disappearing at the age of 44 and proclaimed “Mort pour la France” (Dead for France), he was one of the greatest figures of the Second World War. A symbol of the Resistance and a passionate writer with a worldwide impact. That’s why he has a statue in Lyon’s main square! We owe this to the Lyonnaise Christiane Guillaubey, who designed the statue. It was inaugurated in 2000, to mark the centenary of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s birth.