Statue d'Antoine Favre

This statue of Antoine Favre was carved by the sculptor Guméry in 1865.

The statue of Antoine Favre, in the centre of the square, is the work of Charles-Alphonse Guméry (1865). The magistrate's gown and the pile of books on the side recall the most illustrious legal scholar in the Savoie (1557-1624), who later became the first Président du Sénat de Savoie in Chambéry. On each side of the statue of Favre are two allegories - science and jurisprudence. Born in Bourg en Bresse in 1557, Favre excelled in his studies in Paris and Turin, and became a lawyer, then a judge in his home town by 1584. He was the father of the grammarian Vaugelas, one of the founders of the Académie Française. In 1596, he became the Président du Conseil du Genevois, in residence at Annecy, where he founded the Académie Florimontane in 1606, alongside François de Sales. After becoming Président du Sénat de Savoie in 1610, he became governor of the duchy in 1617, before dying in 1624. The 'Codex Fabrianus', his famous collection of jurisprudence, was published in 1606 in Lyon. When it was written, the idea was brand-new. Favre was not concerned with theoretical law, but its practical application in trials.