Le Souvenir, Bronze sculpture in Nancy, France

Le Souvenir is a bronze group by Paul Dubois on Place André-Maginot, in front of the Protestant temple. It shows two seated young women in the traditional dress and headdresses of Alsace and Lorraine: Alsace sits upright and consoles Lorraine, who leans her head on Alsace's shoulder while their hands clasp. The group rests on a granite base from the Vosges.

Paul Dubois showed a wax model of Le Souvenir at the Salon des artistes français in 1899. He died in 1905, and his widow offered the group to Nancy, which the municipal council debated on 17 July 1908. After her death her son accepted the site of the present Place Maginot, then Place Saint-Jean, chosen for its proximity to the station; the work was handed to the city on 20 September 1910 and installed shortly before the university term, without an official ceremony.

The two figures are allegories: the upright woman is Alsace, wearing a close cap, and the leaning one is Lorraine, in a headscarf, her head against the other's shoulder. Paul Dubois dressed them in the traditional costume and headdress of each province, so passers-by on Place André-Maginot read the group as the lost provinces of 1871.

The monument sits near Nancy's main train station, making it straightforward for visitors to locate and reach while exploring downtown. The open plaza setting provides easy viewing from all angles without barriers.

The wax model shown at the 1899 Salon has disappeared; what survives are plaster casts at the Musée Camille-Claudel in Nogent-sur-Seine and the Musée Saint-Loup in Troyes, a bronze at the Musée d'Orsay, and preparatory drawings in the Louvre's Cabinet des Dessins.