This Madonna, made of plastic hangers and a steel framework, was submerged in 1992 about a hundred meters from Opéra Beach. More specifically, Opéra Plage. It all started with a friendship between Mr. Michel Maiffret, the owner of this beach concession, the first in Nice, and an artist, Félix Macri.
We are in the early ’90s, and a new sport emerges, taking the world by storm – Jet-skiing. Numerous accidents with dramatic outcomes were making headlines. In August 1992, at the peak of the season, the artist had a vision—a vision of an artist, a creator—and while talking to his friend, the director of Opéra Plage, the idea materialized.
It would be the Madonna of the Baie des Anges; she would be blessed and, following a procession, submerged in the waves. The blessing couldn’t take place on the beach as it was the height of summer and women were sunbathing topless! The deputy in charge of cults at the city hall was horrified. He became their advocate, and finally, the blessing took place at the port’s church. Then, in a nautical procession with boats and pointus, they immersed her before the shore and the topless women.
Schubert’s Ave Maria rose, silencing the waves. The singer Christine Maffei lent her voice for the occasion. The statue would not remain at the bottom of the sea, as the seabed was unstable, so it was brought back up and stored in the premises of Opéra Plage.
Four years later, while still stored in her local, she reappeared through an article in Nice Matin. At the very spot where this Madonna was submerged, a bomb from the last war was found. The Madonna of the Baie des Anges had thus performed a miracle. Today, she is located in the gallery of the Forum Jorge François at the Church of Saint-Pierre d’Arène. She has lost some hangers, like fish lose their scales.
Yet, she remains there for the pleasure of art lovers, for those who wish to invoke her, pray to her, and to give this crypt, transformed by the will of Father Gil Florini, a spiritual dimension.
She was among the first works exhibited in this gallery and will be the protector of the place. Located at the entrance of the Forum Jorge François, visitors discover this Madonna. She is like an ethereal effigy, a symbol of her Assumption, a statue born in August!
