Having lost his wife and his two children, he joined the partisans in 1888 and waged twenty-five years of struggle against the Ottoman Empire; in 1915 he commanded the Armenian volunteer forces. Dead in California, he was returned to Armenia in 2000: his equestrian statue keeps watch over a monument with no body.
The story
Andranik Ozanian was born on 25 February 1866 at Şebinkarahisar, in Ottoman Armenia. He joined a band of partisans in 1888, after losing his wife and their two children, and for twenty-five years led a wandering fight against the Ottoman Empire, from Iran to Baku, from Tiflis to Europe.
In December 1912 he fought Enver Pasha's troops alongside the Bulgarians, who made him an honorary citizen. The First World War carried him to the Russian army of the Caucasus; in 1915, while the genocide was under way, he commanded the first Armenian volunteer battalion.
He left the region in 1922 and settled at Fresno, California, where a large Armenian community lived. He died on 31 August 1927 at Richardson Springs, near Chico, and was buried at Fresno on 7 September.
A few months later his body was exhumed and moved to Père-Lachaise, where he was buried a second time. In 1948 the Armenian diaspora paid by national subscription for Léon Mouradoff's equestrian monument, which shows him on horseback, a winged victory beneath the hooves and friezes of soldiers along the sides.
On 17 February 2000 his body set off again, for the Yerablur military cemetery in Armenia. An inscription added to the plinth says so. What is left in Division 94 is a monument without a body, kept up as a place of memory by the Armenian community of Paris.
The grave
A stone equestrian statue, the work of Léon Mouradoff, dated 1948 and paid for by national subscription among the diaspora: the general on horseback, a winged victory beneath the hooves, two marble bas-reliefs depicting friezes of soldiers. The dedicatory inscription reads “To General Antranik, Armenian national hero, 1866-1927, erected by national subscription”. A second, added since, changes its meaning: “the mortal remains of General Andranik were transferred to Armenia on 17 February 2000”. The monument remained; it no longer guards anyone.
On site, do not miss
The winged victory beneath the horse's hooves, the friezes of soldiers on the sides — and the line added in 2000, which announces the departure of the body.
Visitors' questions
Where is General Andranik's monument?
In Division 94, Avenue Pacthod, first row, in the upper part of the cemetery. The stone equestrian statue makes it visible from a distance, but it is a cenotaph: the body has not been there since February 2000.
Joachim MuratIs General Andranik still buried at Père-Lachaise?
No. His body was transferred on 17 February 2000 to the Yerablur military cemetery in Armenia; an inscription added to the base records this. The monument in Division 94 has been a cenotaph ever since.
Imre NagyWho sculpted the equestrian statue?
Léon Mouradoff (1893-1980), in 1948, funded by a national subscription raised across the Armenian diaspora. The general is shown on horseback, a winged victory beneath the hooves, flanked by two marble bas-reliefs of marching soldiers.
Richard WallaceWho was General Andranik?
An Armenian partisan leader born in 1866 in Ottoman Armenia, who fought the Ottoman Empire for twenty-five years and commanded the Armenian volunteer forces in 1915. He died in California in 1927.
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