Design
Paris Commemmorates Its 2006 World Cup Defeat, in Bronze
"This statue goes against the tradition of making statues to honor victories," a museum official explained. "It is an ode to defeat."
I've heard that the night that the French playmaker Zinedine Zidane ended his career was a very sad night in Paris. The French lost the World Cup Final. Everywhere, people were crying.
So it might come as some surprise that the evening's painful, defining moment has now been cast in bronze outside the Pompidou Center, the city's modern art museum. But there it is, 15 feet high, towering over passersby: Zizou lowering his forehead into Marco Materazzi's chest; the Italian defender leaping back like he has touched an electric fence.