"Pergola
de la douce France"The pergola was carried out for the exhibition of decorative arts which took place in Paris in 1925, where it won the great international price of architecture. It is the work of a group of artists (Joachim Costa, Raoul lamourdedieu, Pablo C. Manes, Jan et Joël martel, Louis Nicot, François Pompon, Georges Saupique, Ossip Zadkine) who wished to honor the technique which consists in carving the stone or wood without intermediary, use of a preliminary model.
In spite of the rather disparate styles of the artists, the monument found its unit thanks to the exclusive use of this technique and to the topic of the Celtic legends, (Saint-Grall, Tristan and iseult, Merlin and Viviane, Lancelot and Guenièvre, etc...).
After the exhibition, Pergola without location in any Parisian public garden, was dismountedupon request of the municipality of Etampes, anxious to add to the city a tourist attraction, was restored in 1935 near the Guinette Tower. In front of the Pergola, the triangular basin where it reflected and which was filled since, has been reconstituted.