Here’s one to file in the we-didn’t-know-that folder.
The statue of Joan of Arc that stands in front of the former downtown library building at 223 S. Main isn’t the one given to Wichita in 1970 by Orleans, our sister city in France. The original was put in storage after two decades of display in Kansas weather conditions raised concerns of damage. The version that stands in front of the former library was a copy made in Rome and rededicated in 1996.
Last week, the original statute was brought out of storage and now has a new location — the lobby of City Hall, 455 N. Main.
That statue is also a copy, of a statue sculpted by Princess Marie d’Orleans, the youngest daughter of King Louis-Phillipe the First, which stands in the palace of Versailles. It was gifted to the City of Wichita in 1970 in gratitude for the liberation of Orleans during World War II and in honor of Wichita’s centennial celebration that year.
