Unveiling of a sculpture at the Musée M.A.S.E.

On 18 July 2024, events to mark the 80th anniversary of the death of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry came to a close with the inauguration of a sculpture placed in front of the M.A.S.E. museum in Porto Conte, near Alghero. Placed in front of the 16th century tower, this work reminds us that Saint-Exupéry spent the last two months of his life in the Sardinian bay. Busy flying the famous Lockheed P-38 Lightning and finishing writing ‘Citadelle’, he wrote his last text ‘Lettre à un Américain’ in Porto Conte, where he celebrated his 44th birthday on 29 June. His stay in Sardinia was undoubtedly a happy period for him, as illustrated by the reports he produced for the American magazine ‘LIFE’ by photographer John Phillips, whose images are on display at the M.A.S.E.  

But on 18 July 1944, Saint-Exupéry left Alghero aboard his military plane. Thirteen days later, he disappeared in the skies over France, shot down over the Mediterranean by a German Luftwaffe fighter. 20 years ago, in 2004, the wreckage of his plane was located and recovered from the sea off Marseille. In memory of this sad event 80 years ago, the sculptural work inaugurated in Alghero by the artist Mario Nieddu, entitled ‘The Encounter’, depicts Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the Little Prince and his friend the Fox.

The ceremony was attended by the civil and military authorities, the President and Director of the Porto Conte Regional Natural Park, Raimondo Tilloca and Mariano Mariani, the Director of the M.A.S.E. Museum, Massimiliano Fois, the Jean-Marc Probst Foundation for the Little Prince and the President of the LATÉCOÈRE Foundation, Pierre-Elzéar Latécoère.