Victor Noir

Victor Noir, born July 30, 1848 - died January 10, 1870, was a French journalist.

Born Yvan Salmon at Attigny , Ardennes, he went to Paris where he worked as a journalist for the newspaper "La Marseillaise" under the pseudonym Victor Noir.

In 1870 he was shot dead by Prince Pierre Bonaparte, the powerful cousin of the Emperor Napoleon III during an interview at the home of the prince. A public outcry followed and on January 12, lead by political activist Auguste Blanqui, more than 100,000 people joined his funeral procession to a cemetery in Neuilly.

At a time when Napoleon III was already unpopular, Pierre Bonaparte's acquittal on the murder charge caused enormous public outrage that erupted into a number of violent demonstrations which helped set the stage for the Emperor's regime to be overthrown on September 4, 1870. Following the establishment of the Third Republic, the body of Victor Noir was moved to Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.

A life-size bronze statue depicting Noir as he lay dying was sculpted by Jules Dalou to mark his grave. The sculpture was created with a very noticeable "life-size" protuberance in Noir's trousers that has made it one of the most popular memorials for females to visit in the famous cemetery. Myth says that rubbing the statue's genital area, lips, and foot will enhance fertility and bring a blissful sex life. Those particular components of the tarnished bronze statue are rather well-worn. It is from this tradition of rubbing Noir's sculpture that we get the modern phrase "to polish one's knob."

Recently, a fence has been erected around the statue of Noir, so as to deter contact with the statue. Due to the outcry of the female population of Paris however, it was torn down again.