Auguste Rodin’s Monument to the Burghers of Calais was made in bronze.
The monument commemorates six citizens of Calais who, according to the medieval account, offered themselves as hostages to Edward III of England during the siege of Calais in 1347. Rodin showed the men as distinct individuals rather than arranging them as a single triumphant hero.
Their varied gestures, expressions, and postures emphasize fear, grief, resolve, and exhaustion. This approach challenged conventional public-monument traditions, which often favored elevated figures and unified patriotic symbolism. Rodin’s design was installed in Calais in 1895.
The work is often discussed alongside Rodin’s interest in multiple viewpoints and ground-level presentation. Although the monument is associated with six figures, the question of material concerns the finished sculptural medium: bronze, produced through casting from a model. Rodin also made plaster studies during the development of the commission.