The face in XXL version of Maurice Merenda, an 80-year-old former fisherman, was the last statue to be submerged on January 28 off Cannes.

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F. Binacchi / ANP / 20 Minutes

  • After four years of procedures, an underwater museum has just been installed off Cannes.

  • “Masks” molded on the faces of six Cannes residents, in an XXL and stylized version, now rest between the two Lérins Islands.

  • These sculptures, two meters high and nine tonnes each, will allow, in this “heavily anthropized and degraded” area, according to the Cannes town hall, to “offer a new refuge to underwater life”.

They are there.

After four long years of proceedings for the city of Cannes, the six extraordinary sculptures by Jason deCaires Taylor were immersed this Thursday in the south of Île Sainte-Marguerite, a few meters from the shore, facing the residence of the Grand Jardin.

This (underwater) museum will therefore be, from Sunday and if aquatic activities continue to be authorized, one of the only currently visitable in France!

The location of the facility to the south of Île Sainte-Marguerite, off Cannes - Google Maps

As revealed by 

20 Minutes

, in June 2019, the artistic project of the English plastic artist, whose installations are installed in several seas around the world, had in particular been retested by the Regional Directorate for the Environment, Planning and Housing (Dreal ).

Before being finally accepted on this new site.

The visits will be made in water currently at 14 ° C

The "masks" molded on the faces of six Cannes residents, in an XXL and stylized version, now rest, a priori for eternity, between the two Lérins islands, within reach of fins, snorkel and currently a wetsuit. of diving in water currently at 14 ° C.

Inspired by the “masks that we wear at the Cannes Film Festival” and also by the man in the iron mask (imprisoned in his time on Sainte-Marguerite island), Jason deCaires Taylor explains wanting to “question the man about its relationship to the sea, in danger ”.

Each face has two sides: "one tells about resilience" and "the other about the vulnerability of the marine environment", he explains.

The last to take place underwater on Thursday was that of Maurice Merenda, an 80-year-old former fisherman.

These sculptures, two meters high and nine tonnes each, will allow, in this area "highly anthropized and degraded", according to the town hall of Cannes, "to offer a new refuge to underwater life".

"These sculptures will be reefs which will be gradually colonized", evolving and changing colors over the years, in particular thanks to holes in the cement (with neutral pH), where flora and fauna can settle.

After the passage of a safety commission on Saturday, the statues will be anchored and will allow the "opening" of the museum on Sunday.

Planet

This is what the works of the Aquatic Museum in Cannes will look like

Cannes

After a false start, green light for the "first underwater museum in France"

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