The monument erected in this square commemorates the tragic events of the 1870 war, which took place in Nogent. From 6 to 13 December, there was a violent skirmish between the Prussians and a detachment of the French army known as "les mobiles". Prussian artillery bombarded the town. Nogent-le-Bas was largely destroyed and burnt down, leaving more than 500 people homeless. Both the French and Prussian sides suffered heavy loss of life.
The original monument consisted of a 7-metre-high cast-iron column in the Ionic style, surmounted by an angel. The base features four marble slabs, each surmounted by a "mobile" head with palms. The north plaque commemorates the event; the south, the public subscription; the east, the civilian victims and the west, the military victims.
Bernard Dimey immortalised this monument in his poem "L'enfance".
Sunday on the Bassin de Nogent:
Beyond this square, the panorama opens onto the green valley of the Traire. This landscape is typical of the Langres plateau, where the high, limestone areas are covered in forest. The valleys are clay, giving way to grassland.
The area around the town has long been home to gardens and orchards cultivated by cutlers and farmers.
As well as being a source of food, the surrounding countryside was also a place to relax.
As Mr Petit, a retired schoolteacher at the end of the 19th century, put it:
"The workers of Nogent are generally quite family-oriented. Sometimes on Sundays, and almost every Monday during the good season, the cutlery families (father, mother, children, brothers, sisters, cousins), go to the country, to the woods or to their garden outside the town, to spend the evening... They eat, drink, sing, laugh, smoke and dance...
Others prefer to stay in town, and Monsieur Petit continues:
"To look good and have a good reputation among the working classes, you have to know how, every Sunday, after finishing your work and delivering it to the merchant, to do a bit of grooming (the Nogentais are very smart), get yourself some fashionable cigarettes or at least half a cigar, waddle a little in the street and go and sit in the café, not so much to enjoy a drink but to chat, gossip, play and have some top quality drinks!
At the time, there were almost thirty cafés in Nogent.
Monument de 1870
