Who is Victor Noir and why are his genitals among the most visited sites in Père Lachaise?

You might’ve heard of the superstition surrounding the bust of the singer Dalida, erected in her honor on the square that bears her name in Montmartre. It’s said that caressing her breasts will bring you many years of good luck, especially in your love life. As you can imagine, this particular area has received a lot of polishing over the years. Before you get outraged at the blatant sexism, rest assured that there is a male statue in Paris that attracts just as much harassment, if not more. The statue in question is the one of Victor Noir.

The tragic death of Victor Noir

Yvan Salmon, better known by his pen name Victor Noir, was a journalist and political oppositionist. His short life came to a tragic end on January 10, 1870, when he was shot by the Emperor’s hotheaded cousin, Prince Pierre-Napoléon Bonaparte, because of a misunderstanding. The prince was about to fight a duel with an opponent when Victor, accompanied by another journalist, showed up at his apartment on behalf of Pascal Grousset, a Corsican journalist who wanted the prince to apologize for an insulting article he had published in the newspapers.

The prince mistook them for messengers from his duel partner, and before the matter could be resolved, the notoriously impulsive prince fired six shots, one of which killed Victor, who was only 21 years old. The fact that Bonaparte was acquitted of the murder enraged his opponents and came to symbolize the imperial suppression of civil liberties. Over 100,000 people attended Victor Noir’s funeral. His death would mark the beginning of a large-scale anti-Napoleonic movement for the Second Empire, and the fallen journalist had become a heroic symbol of the Republic.

A necro-erotic tradition

21 years later, Victor Noir’s body was transferred to the Père Lachaise cemetery. For this occasion, the sculptor Jules Dallou created a life-size bronze representation of him as he would have been found after the shooting, to be placed on his new tomb, faithful to the smallest and not so small details: the seams of his gloves, the buttonholes of his waistcoat – and a noticeable bulge in his trousers.

Half a century later, a rumor – allegedly started by two mischievous students – spread rapidly about the recumbent statue’s private parts. It was said that rubbing against them would increase one’s fertility or chances of finding a good lover within the year. Since then, many women have tried it, hence the shiny area around Victor’s fly. Though you’ll notice that his lips are also suspiciously bright, suggesting that some of the ladies are having a little too much fun with the poor statue.

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