The Equestrian Statue of Leopold II (french: Statue équestre de Léopold II, nl, Ruiterstandbeeld van Leopold II) is a
bronze
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...
equestrian statue
An equestrian statue is a statue of a rider mounted on a horse, from the Latin ''eques'', meaning 'knight', deriving from ''equus'', meaning 'horse'. A statue of a riderless horse is strictly an equine statue. A full-sized equestrian statue is a d ...
erected in
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
, 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
Belgium is a constitutional, hereditary, and popular monarchy. The monarch is titled king or queen of the Belgians ( nl, Koning(in) der Belgen, french: Roi / Reine des Belges}, german: König(in) der Belgier) and serves as the country's h ...
. It was created by the sculptor
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 ...
in 1914, but it was not finalised until 1926 by the architect François Malfait, when it was inaugurated in honour of the king.
The statue stands on the /, to the south-east of the
Royal Palace of Brussels
The Royal Palace of Brussels (french: Palais royal de Bruxelles, , nl, Koninklijk Paleis van Brussel , german: Königlicher Palast von Brüssel) is the official palace of the King and Queen of the Belgians in the centre of the nation's capita ...
, at the point where the / joins the / (
Small Ring
The Small Ring (french: Petite Ceinture, nl, Kleine Ring) inner ring road, formally R20 and N0 is a series of roadways in central Brussels, Belgium, surrounding the historic city centre. The city centre is usually defined as the area within t ...
), and a few tens of metres from the Royal Stables of Brussels. It is also close to ''
Matongé'', an African (mainly Congolese) district of
Ixelles
( French, ) or (Dutch, ), is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located to the south-east of Brussels' city centre, it is geographically bisected by the City of Brussels. It is also bordered by the muni ...
. This area is served by
Brussels Central Station
Brussels Central Station (french: Gare de Bruxelles-Central, nl, Station Brussel-Centraal), officially Brussels-Central (french: Bruxelles-Central, link=no, nl, Brussel-Centraal, link=no), is a railway and metro station in central Brussels, B ...
, as well as by the
metro
Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to:
Geography
* Metro (city), a city in Indonesia
* A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center
Public transport
* Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...
stations
Parc/Park (on lines
1 and
5) and
Trône/Troon (on lines
2 and
6).
History
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 = ...
died in 1909, and as for many
Kings of the Belgians
This is a list of Belgian monarchs from 1831 when the first Belgian king, Leopold I, ascended the throne, after Belgium seceded from the Kingdom of the Netherlands during the Belgian Revolution of 1830.
Under the Belgian Constitution, the Belg ...
, the Belgian authorities took the initiative, in 1914, to erect a statue in his honour.
[X, ''Léopold II. Les monuments de Bruxelles et de Léopoldville'' (in French), Brussels, Vromant & Co, s.d., p. 5.] To do this, the Belgian State collected more than 625,000
Belgian franc
The Belgian franc ( nl, Belgische frank, french: Franc belge, german: Belgischer Franken) was the currency of the Kingdom of Belgium from 1832 until 2002 when the Euro was introduced. It was subdivided into 100 subunits, each known as a in Dutch ...
s. On 31 May 1914, the
Belgian official journal and the press launched an appeal for anyone who wanted to contribute to erecting the statue. The initiative was successful, in which even Leopold's successor,
King Albert I
Albert I (8 April 1875 – 17 February 1934) was King of the Belgians from 23 December 1909 until his death in 1934.
Born in Brussels as the fifth child and second son of Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders and Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-S ...
, himself took part and responded to the appeal along with some citizens.
The statue's construction, however, was delayed due to 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 ...
and it is necessary to wait until the end of the war for the work to be redesigned by the sculptor
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 ...
with the help of the architect François Malfait and the ''
Union Minière du Haut-Katanga
The ''Union Minière du Haut-Katanga'' (French language, French; literally "Mining Union of Upper-Katanga") was a Belgium, Belgian mining company (with minority British share) which controlled and operated the mining industry in the copperbelt r ...
'' which, for its part, provided the raw material. The bronze statue was cast by the ''Compagnie des Bronzes de Bruxelles'' and was inaugurated on 15 November 1926, the feast day of the Dynasty, but also the patronal feast of Leopold II. This ceremony was marked by the presence of the entire
Belgian Royal Family
Belgium is a constitutional, hereditary, and popular monarchy. The monarch is titled king or queen of the Belgians ( nl, Koning(in) der Belgen, french: Roi / Reine des Belges}, german: König(in) der Belgier) and serves as the country's ...
and the authorities who came in procession to the scene.
Controversies
Since the 21st century, the statue has aroused many controversies as to its presence in the centre of Brussels since the figure of Leopold II is no longer as admired and respected as at the time of its construction. Indeed, it is today mainly associated with
Belgian colonial history and the
Congo Free State
''(Work and Progress)
, national_anthem = Vers l'avenir
, capital = Vivi Boma
, currency = Congo Free State franc
, religion = Catholicism (''de facto'')
, leader1 = Leopo ...
, a territory over which Leopold exercised ''
de facto
''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...
'' sovereignty from 1885 to 1908.
The statue has been vandalised several times with red and white paint, including by the writer and activist
Théophile de Giraud
Théophile de Giraud (born 19 November 1968) is a Belgian writer, philosopher and activist of French language.
Literary work
Published in 2000, De Giraud's first book, ''The Impertinence of Procreation'', is a plea against human reproduction, us ...
in 2008.
In June 2020, a petition for its removal was signed over 45,000 times within several days.
A majority in the
Brussels Parliament
The Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) ( French: ''Parlement de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale'', Dutch: ''Parlement van het Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gew ...
wants to either recontextualise or remove all Leopold II statues in Brussels, including this one.
File:Statue équestre de Léopold II - 02.JPG, Equestrian statue
File:Statue équestre de Léopold II - 03.JPG, Closeup 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 = ...
File:Statue équestre de Léopold II - 04.JPG, Pedestal
A pedestal (from French ''piédestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'' 'foot of a stall') or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In ci ...
See also
*
List of statues of Leopold II of Belgium
This is a list of statues and monuments of Leopold II of Belgium (9 April 1835 – 17 December 1909), the second King of the Belgians from 1865 to 1909 and, through his own initiative, the owner and absolute ruler of the Congo Free State from 1885 ...
*
History of Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
*
Belgium in "the long nineteenth century"
In the history of Belgium, the period from 1789 to 1914, dubbed the " long 19th century" by the historian Eric Hobsbawm, includes the end of Austrian rule and periods of French and Dutch occupation of the region, leading to the creation of the ...
References
Footnotes
Notes
Bibliography
*
* {{cite book, ref={{harvid, Mardaga, 1994, title=Le Patrimoine monumental de la Belgique: Bruxelles, volume=1C: Pentagone N-Z, location=Liège, language=fr, publisher=Pierre Mardaga, year=1994, url=https://monument.heritage.brussels/files/cities/1000/documents/03-vol-c-fr-def_k.pdf
Buildings and structures in Brussels
Tourist attractions in Brussels
City of Brussels
Statues in Belgium
Statues of monarchs
Bronze sculptures in Belgium
Monuments and memorials in Belgium