The Equestrian Statue of Leopold II ( nl, Ruiterstandbeeld van Leopold II) is a monument erected in

Ostend Ostend ( nl, Oostende, ; french: link=no, Ostende ; german: link=no, Ostende ; vls, Ostende) is a coastal city and municipality, located in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerk ...

, Belgium, in memory of

King Leopold II * german: link=no, Leopold Ludwig Philipp Maria Viktor , house = Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , father = Leopold I of Belgium , mother = Louise of Orléans , birth_date = , birth_place = Brussels, Belgium , death_date = ...

, second King of the Belgians. It is located on the Royal Galleries by the beach. The king was commemorated here as a benefactor of Ostend and the

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964. Colo ...

. The inauguration was on 19 July 1931. Partly due to Leopold II's colonial regime, the monument is the subject of ongoing controversy and has been vandalised several times.

History

During

's reign,

Thomas Vinçotte Baron Thomas Jules Vinçotte (1850–1925) was a Belgian sculptor and medallist. Life Vinçotte was the son of Jean-Marie Vinçotte, born in Borgerhout and brother of the engineer Robert Vinçotte. Thomas initially trained at the Académie ...

produced a portrait bust of the king, which is now in the

Royal Greenhouses of Laeken The Royal Greenhouses of Laeken (french: Serres Royales de Laeken, nl, Koninklijke Serres van Laken) are a vast complex of monumental heated greenhouses in the park of the Royal Palace of Laeken (northern part of the City of Brussels), Belgium ...

. Shortly after the king's death in 1909, plans started to honour him, as a benefactor of Ostend and the

. After the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the city government started work on plans for a statue. The sculptor Alfred Courtens was commissioned, together with his brother, the architect Antoine Courtens. The City Council may have hoped to regain the dynasty as summer residents but after Leopold II's death, Ostend's status as a royal summer residence quickly crumbled. On 22 September 1981, the statue was declared a protected monument.

Description

The Equestrian statue of Leopold II is known locally as ''De Drie Gapers''. The middle of the three passages was made on the sea side. The monument has an important architectural part that roughly consists of a voluminous upright column, with two horizontal bases on the left and right. This gives a form of a kind of double ''L'' monogram (two ''Ls turned away from each other), the monogram that Leopold II often used. On top in bronze, Leopold II sits in military uniform on horseback looking over the North Sea. At the bottom left a larger than life sculptural group, also in bronze, depicting ''Gratitude of the Congolese to Leopold II for freeing them from slavery among the Arabs''. On the right, a pendant, depicting ''Tribute of the Ostend fishing population''.

Controversy

Congo Free State

Leopold was the founder and sole owner of the Congo Free State; a private project was undertaken on his behalf. He used the explorer Henry Morton Stanley to help him lay claim to the Congo, an area now known as the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

. At the

Berlin Conference The Berlin Conference of 1884–1885, also known as the Congo Conference (, ) or West Africa Conference (, ), regulated European colonisation and trade in Africa during the New Imperialism period and coincided with Germany's sudden emergenc ...

of 1884–85, the colonial nations of Europe authorised his claim by committing the Congo Free State to improve the lives of the native inhabitants. From the beginning, Leopold ignored these conditions and millions of Congolese inhabitants, including children, were mutilated and killed. He used great sums of the money from this exploitation for public and private construction projects in Belgium during this period. He donated the private buildings to the state before his death. Leopold extracted a fortune from the Congo, initially by the collection of

ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals i ...

, and after a rise in the price of

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, an ...

in the 1890s, by forced labour from the natives to harvest and process rubber. Under his regime, millions of Congolese people died. Reports of deaths and abuse led to a major international scandal in the early 20th century, and Leopold was forced by the Belgian government to relinquish control of the colony to the civil administration in 1908.

Vandalism

The monument has been vandalised in 2004 and 2020. In 2004, an activist group, ''De Stoete Ostendenoare'', symbolically cut off a bronze hand from one of the kneeling Congolese slaves who, as part of the ''Gratitude of the Congolese'' group in the monument, honours Leopold II. This was a reference to how Congolese slaves' hands were cut off if they did not produce enough rubber during Leopold's colonial regime. The activists were willing to give the hand back if a historically correct sign would be placed near the statue. The statue was vandalised again in 2020 as part of the global

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police br ...

movement after the

murder of George Floyd On , George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was murdered in the U.S. city of Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old white police officer. Floyd had been arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill. Chauvin knelt on Floyd's ...

. A petition to remove such statues was started to coincide with the 60th anniversary of Congo's independence from Belgium on 30 June 2020. On 9 June 2020, Ostend mayor Bart Tommelein said that the city council "takes the fight against racism very seriously" but "replacing or removing statues will not happen".

References

External links

Photos

Video of unveiling of statue in 1931
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leopold II, King Statues in Belgium Bronze sculptures in Belgium Sculptures of men 1931 establishments in Belgium Leopold II of Belgium 1931 sculptures Equestrian statues Vandalized works of art Race-related controversies in sculpture Controversies in Belgium Black Lives Matter Anti-racism Criticism of police brutality