At first glance, an object (the yoke [cangue] removed from Pierre Borie) placed in an unexpected location does not lead to a related series. In the Hall, it has become a crossroad; it cannot be avoided. A sharp, clear symbol. This yoke is a fetter placed at the neck of prisoners, resembling somewhat a wooden ladder. In the Hall of Martyrs it occupies a place similar to that of the cross standing in the crypt. Place yourself on that spot, look at everything around, you can see everything.
From the yoke as crossroad, one can see the metallic (tool boxes) hanging on the walls, below the paintings, like the center from which rays shine forth. These boxes contain chains, ropes, knives, daggers: worn and common-place tools of violence and cruelty. They are very close to the usual tools used in fine crafts, but misdirected from their ordinary human use.
On seeing them, we ask ourselves about those who were our forebears, and what were the roads that led them to that kind of death which is martyrdom. These remembrances are displayed under three large wooden arches with vertical glass show-cases which do not impede visibility but associate freely the objects which they contain and those which we can perceive in the background: other objects, the paintings in perspective.