The memorial was commissioned by the city of Nantes in 2004 , and opened to the public in 2012 , with more than 1.5 million visitors to date . It entails a physical transformation and symbolic reinforcement of 350 meters ( about 1,000 feet ) of the coast of the Loire along Quai de la Fosse in the center of the city ( Figure 6 -Nantes Esplanade ).
As a metaphorical and emotional evocation of the struggle for the abolition of slavery – above all historic , but which continues into the present – it includes the adaptation of a preexisting underground residual space , product of the construction of the Loire embankments and ports during the eighteenth , nineteenth , and twentieth centuries . It provides
space and means for : remembering and thinking about slavery and the slave trade ; commemorating resistance and the abolitionist struggle ; celebrating the historic act of abolition ; and bringing the visitor closer to the continuing struggle against present-day forms of slavery .
By shedding light over difficult pasts and presents , both in Nantes and the world , and as an ethicopolitical , artistic , landscape , and architectural project , this unique urbanscape and memorial space has become an inclusive public space , and serves as an instrument for individual contemplation , an agent for collective conversation and a catalyst for transformative action ( Figure7-8-9 Nantes )
7
Figures 7-8-9 - Memorial to the Abolition of Slavery , Nantes , France - Image : Philippe Ruault | Courtesy : Wodiczko + Bonder
8 9
80
Observing Memories ISSUE 4