L'Ange de la Baie

Memorials for terrorist attack victims were relatively rare in France prior to 2015; with just half a dozen plaques commemorating events that occurred between 1974 and 2015. Sadly, this changed, with an increase in attacks on French soil beginning in 2015. One such attack occurred in Nice on the evening of July 14, 2016, Bastille Day.  

A cargo truck was driven into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day on the Promenade des Anglais. The attack resulted in the deaths of 86 people and injuries to more than 400 others. Fourteen of the victims were children, with the youngest not even three years old.

Jean-Marie Fondacaro, a local artist, was chosen by the victims’ families to create the memorial. The memorial was unveiled on July 14, 2022, six years after the attack. The lower part represents a wave, on which a heart is engraved and filled with the names of the 86 victims. Above this stands a statue of a figure with arms outstretched, ready to take flight.

The memorial stands on the spot on Promenade des Anglais where the truck was stopped by police on the evening of the tragedy.