Djoseph and Francwès - Namur

Since the year 2000, this sculpture by Suzanne Godard, based on characters by Jean Legrand, has stood on the Place des Armes.

The snail is the emblematic animal of Namur. This gastropod is representative on the one hand because of the numerous snail farms that surround the city , but also because of the reputation of its inhabitants for being particularly slow (or rather for knowing how to take their time). To illustrate this folklore, on the Place d'Armes we find the statues of Djoseph and Francwès chatting while watching their crawling animals.

Petit gris snails are one of the culinary specialties of the region.

Djoseph and Francwès embody a certain spirit of Namur, the spirit of the 'chwès' , the old inhabitants of the 'Cité du Bia Bouquet' who walk slowly, with brains that may not bubble, but that macerate in a bath of solid common sense . Little philosophers, kings of the good life, champions of the slime, .... according to Charles Melebeck.

Our two 'Djo-djo' are the embodiment of the old 'chwè' of Samber and Maas, with their calm and juicy minds, their subconscious philosophy of common sense and quiet humor, and their patient fatalistic temperament, which we see in hundreds of them find. Often victims of misfortune, funny without being ridiculous, they evoke a smile of complicity. Thus they will remain for future generations, as specimens of a small world geographically limited, socially situated in a certain period of its history... according to Marc Delforge.

Willem Vandenameele