Overview

• Three Jarnias rope technicians unbolted the 300-kg lion from the 70-meter-high beffroi and an SAF helicopter airlifted it to Place des Héros in less than ten minutes.
• Crews rehearsed the operation in June at Château de Pierrefonds using a replica to test disassembly and safe handling techniques.
• Authorities lifted restrictions at 11:00, and crowds photographed the statue on the square until its scheduled 18:00 departure.
• Installed in 1929, the copper emblem had remained inaccessible to the public until today’s descent.
• Socra’s Dordogne workshops will undertake conservation to protect the statue’s copper and bronze details before it returns.