Louis Pasteur Monument, 1928
Leon Hermant
North Lawn of the Old
Cook County Hospital
1901 West Harrison Street
Louis
Pasteur (1822-1895) was a French chemist and biologist best known for his
remarkable breakthroughs in the causes and prevention of disease, including the
first vaccines for rabies and anthrax. He pioneered the germ theory of disease
and invented the process of pasteurization.
On
October 27, 1928, amid impressive ceremonies in which U.S. Vice President
Charles Dawes and French Ambassador Paul Claudel participated, Leon Hermant’s
28-foot Art Deco memorial statue was unveiled in Grant Park. Children who had
been treated by Pasteur traveled from as far as New Jersey to lay a wreath at
the foot of the monument. When, in 1946, the West Side Medical Commission
arranged to move the memorial to the green space in from of Cook County
Hospital, a rededication ceremony was attended by more than 100 people. The
memorial also fit right in with the eight-story Beaux-Arts style hospital
building directly to the south. In 1928, Hermant was awarded the prestigious Légion d'honneur, the highest distinction that
can be conferred by the French government on an individual, for his work on the
monument.
With
as much attention as the subject, artist and memorial once received, it is sad to see the monument in such a cracked and
weathered state. Sitting in front of the historic hospital building (closed since 2002), the monument’s fate
regarding restoration or demolition is unknown.
No comments:
Post a Comment