It is now official. The national memorial for the victims of slavery, promised by Emmanuel Macron in 2018, will be erected in the gardens of Trocadéro in Paris. On Wednesday, all members of the steering committee, co-chaired by the delegated minister for Overseas Territories, Philippe Vigier, and Serge Romana, president of the Slavery and Reconciliation Foundation, approved this location. And Anne Hidalgo, the (PS) mayor of the capital, “confirmed the availability of this emblematic site to create a memorial garden”, confirmed the City of Paris.
This is significant as it is the place where the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed in 1948. The artwork will pay tribute to the four million slaves from the former French colonies and, in a more universal sense, to the victims of slavery and human trafficking around the world.
A first project canceled at the Tuileries Gardens
The monument, requested since 2016 by the memorial association CM98, was originally intended to be located at the Tuileries Gardens. A first call for proposals was launched in 2020, but canceled in 2021. Several associations, including CM98, challenged the preselection of five artists because they believed that the inscription of the names of the 200,000 freed slaves in 1848 in Guadeloupe, Guyana, Reunion, and Martinique was not adequately taken into account.
A new call for proposals will be launched by the government and the city of Paris, targeting artists and landscapers, with the criterion of highlighting these 200,000 names. The steering committee is also considering a digital extension of the memorial to make it more accessible to young people and residents outside of Paris. The physical monument is expected to be erected by May 2025.
