🇫🇷 Igor Mitoraj in Angers

Per Adriano (2004) is a monumental bronze by Igor Mitoraj permanently installed on Place Saint-Eloi in Angers, directly in front of the city's Museum of Fine Arts. The sculpture was acquired by the municipality of Angers in June 2004, making it the only confirmed permanent Mitoraj installation in western France. The work depicts a fragmented classical figure with the characteristic bandaged and damaged forms that define Mitoraj's language.

Angers is a city of exceptional artistic heritage — its Apocalypse Tapestry (1377–1382) is the largest surviving medieval tapestry in the world. The city acquired Per Adriano in June 2004 when the new Musée des Beaux-Arts opened, placing Mitoraj's bronze directly in front of the entrance as a permanent landmark. It is one of only two confirmed permanent Mitoraj installations in France outside Paris — and the only one commissioned directly by a French municipality, making it a true civic acquisition rather than a corporate or institutional loan.

The Loire Valley, of which Angers is the western gateway, has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000, recognised for its exceptional collection of Renaissance châteaux and its profound influence on French language and culture. Mitoraj's Per Adriano stands on Place Saint-Eloi, a short walk from the medieval Château d'Angers with its extraordinary Apocalypse Tapestry. The juxtaposition of a 14th-century tapestry cycle and a 20th-century fragmented bronze is entirely in keeping with Mitoraj's lifelong project: to show that antiquity and the present are in constant, unfinished dialogue.

Permanent Works