The Little Prince

The elusive Little Prince and his creator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Lyon, France

The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince) is one of my favorite books and one of the most popular books in the world. It still sells two million copies a year and has been translated into 300 languages worldwide.

Thought of as a children's book, it is actually quite sophisticated and poetic, dealing somberly with human relationships and the absurd society created by adults.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the author of The Little Prince, was born in Lyon in 1900. In 2000, on the one hundred year anniversary of his birth, a monument was erected to honor the city's favorite son (If they name the airport after you, I'd say you're a pretty popular guy). 

Saint-Exupéry monument, Lyone, France

The monument itself is quite moving with a sculpture of the author next to his character, The Little Prince. Raised on a marble column over fifteen feet above street level, the author and his creation seem to be looking down upon Lyon, perhaps from one of Saint-Exupéry's planes or, I like to imagine, from a planet in The Little Prince.

I had a heckuva time trying to find the monument. Relying on the tourist office, I was initially pointed in the wrong direction. Let me point out that the tourist office in Bellecour Square (La Place Bellecour) is quite good and we used it multiple times to get information about the city. This time, though, they made a mistake, which turned out alright when I followed their directions and stumbled on an amazing art installation. I'll post about that at a later date.

Sustenance for a hard day of monument finding

The next day, armed with the address "hacia la calle Saint-Exupéry" (not exactly precise directions) I set out again. This time I was able to find the statue, but not after passing by it once, as this is where a lot of bus charters park and I couldn't see it.

Seeing the monument was worth the effort. And, as it turns out, the placement, while a bit out of the way, is intentional. It's right by the house where Saint-Exupéry was born. There's a plaque to commemorate the site, but you can't go in, it's privately owned.

A couple getting their wedding picture, Bellecour Square, Lyon, France

If you go: The monument is just across the street from Bellecour Square on the southwest corner. Bellecour Square is a fantastic open space in the heart of Lyon and you should spend some time there, even if it's just sitting on a bench and watching the Lyonaise stroll by.

Students working on a project in the nearby Bellecour Square, Lyon, France

Here's a little more about the famous author of The Little Prince.

The author and illustrator, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, was a French aviation pioneer whose crash in the Sahara desert in 1935 provided some of the inspiration for The Little Prince (the story begins with a pilot lost in the desert). Saint-Exupéry's wife Consuelo was thought to be the inspiration for Rose (not the most flattering characterization, if you know the story).

Saint-Exupéry flew with the French Air Force at the beginning of WWII, but fled to North America when the French surrendered to the Germans. Here, in New York, he wrote The Little Prince. But, in 1943 he began flying with the Free French Air Force against the Axis. In July, 1944, Saint-Exupéry's plane disappeared during a reconnaissance mission over the Rhone Valley. The wreckage was not discovered until 2000, when it was found by a diver by a diver off the coast of Marseille.
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