The Dragon Company

Beyond the usual scene of sand and chalets, one striking structure steals the show on the Calais seafront: a massive glass shelter housing something quite extraordinary. Yes—the dragon is here. After Nantes, La Roche-sur-Yon and Toulouse, Calais became the latest city to welcome one of the spectacular creations from La Machine, a street theatre company founded in 1999 by Marseille-based artistic director François Delarozière. This unique team of artists, technicians, and designers build massive mechanical creatures—part machine, part magic—and bring them to life in public spaces. In a bid to boost tourism in a city many travelers pass through without stopping, Calais invested €4.2 million to create its own fantastic beast. The Calais Dragon was unveiled in 2019. It’s the largest creation ever made by La Machine: 10 meters high, 25 meters long with a wingspan of 17.5 meters. It breathes fire, releases mist, moves its limbs, lies down, rises, and can even “run” at up to 4 km/h—all thanks to a 70-person team operating its 72 tons of wood and steel. The dragon regularly roams the city and can carry up to 50 passengers on its back for a 30-minute ride. The project is set to evolve over the next 6 to 8 years. In 2020, a 4-meter iguana joined the adventure, based at Fort Nieulay. Soon, a Grand Iguana and other lizards will appear in Saint-Pierre and at Dombunker III. In short—Calais’s mechanical fantasy is just getting started!