The famous sculpture of a figure emerging from stone on Georges Rodenbach's tomb at Pere-Lachaise

One of the most striking and photographed sculptures at Pere-Lachaise: the tomb of Belgian writer Georges Rodenbach. The work shows a bronze male figure emerging from a block of rough granite, reaching one arm upward with a rose in hand. The effect is that of a deceased trying to free himself from death's prison to offer one last gift to the world of the living. Rodenbach (1855-1898) was a Symbolist poet and novelist, author of the famous "Bruges-la-Morte." The sculpture, created in 1899, is attributed to various artists but authorship remains uncertain.

Georges Rodenbach, tomb, sculpture, Pere-Lachaise, symbolism, Bruges-la-Morte, rose