Rodin’s sculpture "The Burghers of Calais" exerts a widespread fascination and appeal. There are twelve versions of this statuary group throughout the world, a moving choreography in bronze. Commissioned in 1884 by Mayor Omer Dewavrin for the industrial port city of Calais, the monument was finally inaugurated in 1895. This novel recounts the story of its creation, as well as the friendship between two men – an artist in pursuit of the unknown and a clear-sighted municipal official who urged him to see his vision through to the end.