Statue of Robert Surcouf, Statue in Saint-Malo, France

The statue of Robert Surcouf is a bronze sculpture in Saint-Malo showing a renowned maritime captain in his corsair attire. It is positioned near the Passage de la Poudrière within the walled old town, where it can be seen from several nearby streets.

A public subscription launched in 1899 raised the funds, and the sculptor Alfred Caravanniez, born in Saint-Malo in 1855, was commissioned to portray Robert Surcouf, the corsair born in the city in 1773 who died in 1827. The bronze was inaugurated in 1905 on the ramparts near the Passage de la Poudrière. During the Occupation the Germans took the statue down, and it was put back in its place after the war.

Surcouf's name is tied to the Malouinière de la Chipaudière near Saint-Malo, and the statue's base carries inscriptions recalling his career as a corsair. The figure stands in corsair dress, a detail that links the monument to the town's privateering past rather than to the French navy.

The monument stands within the walled old town and is easy to reach on foot from nearby streets. Visitors can explore the surrounding area where other historical monuments are located throughout the same zone.

The bronze was requisitioned by German forces in 1944, but the statue was spared because Saint-Malo's mayor argued it honoured a sailor, not a political figure. A small plaque on the base records the 1947 reinstallation after the Liberation.