Prospect Park Goes French

Anyone that walks down Prospect Park West on Thursday around Ninth Street and notices a little commotion around 11AM will be happening upon a visit to the park by France's Consul General and Parks Commissioner Adrain Benepe. The event is a celebration of the restoration of the Lafayette Monument (now you know what the large monument at the Ninth Street entrance is, if you've never paid attention). The guest of honor will be François Delattre, who is consul General of France in New York. The background info says, in part:

To honor the 250th anniversary of the birth of the Marquis de Lafayette (1757–1834), a group of French-American citizens, with the support and encouragement of the Consulate General of France, raised funds for the restoration of the Lafayette Monument at Prospect Park, Brooklyn. The nearly ten-foot-high bronze relief by Daniel Chester French (set in a picturesque pink granite stele designed by architect Henry Bacon), was erected in 1917 at the 9th Street and Prospect Park West entrance to the Park...Restoration work on the Lafayette Monument in Prospect Park was undertaken by the staff of the Parks Department's Citywide Monuments Conservation Program. The Monument was initially conserved in 1988 through Adopt-A-Monument, a joint venture of the Municipal Art Society, the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation, and the NYC Art Commission.

So, next time you sit on the monument, you will know upon whom you are resting.