Où est Voltaire? Mystery of Parisian statue solved

Disappearance of the Enlightenment figure had stirred memories of destruction by city's Nazi occupiers and provoked outrage

What would the City of Light be without one of its Enlightenment luminaries? For 18 months concerned Parisians have missed a statue of philosopher and historian Voltaire, which disappeared from its plinth in August 2020 during a wave of statue-toppling around the world.

Rumours spread that Voltaire - real name Francois-Marie Arouet - was a victim of cancel culture", removed by politically correct City Hall officials because, while he wrote denouncing slavery, he owed part of his fortune to colonial-era trade and has been accused of racism and antisemitism.