![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin6EgbNoA9XYq79t01Q8aKuktZelDfPaFIRJMEh0aNxtMWC8kqbN_z1X8NROinFho2V8fE8-DIL-JI93etMonnF5pFmRLqV7RJPrqCcxn7TERMqrT3tk2n0FFqszNbYmY1-Eu3/s640/P1040759.JPG)
Some people find cemeteries depressing - after all, they are full of dead people but when their lives have been glorified with stone art they are forever beautiful. Even without the art, just reading a tombstone you can find yourself transported to a time long gone.
Take this angel in the Old Cemetery of Menton. The stone has weathered the hair, the wings, the clothes and the cross, yet the face remains pristine and perfect. The inscription tells us this angel guards the tomb of Monsieur Bosano and his wife who died on the 16th September 1907 at the age of 65. Who were they? And did they really die on the same day?
P.S. Since writing the above, Zephirine left a message explaining that the extra 'e' shows the reference to be feminine and is it is the wife who is buried here. Thankyou, Zephirine, I really should have noticed that.
This leaves the question - where is Monsieur Bosano buried? I believe I know the answer (amazing what you can discover on the Internet) and will take a photograph of his tomb another time. He was Lieutenant Henri Bosano and died in 1892 at the Battle of Poguessa (Dahomey) which is in Benin, West Africa. The French column was attacked October 4 by an army under the command of King Behanzin. After several charges which are countered with the bayonet, the Fons retreated. About 240 soldiers died in battle (200 Fons and 42 French). Lieutenant Bosano died on 8th October.