art.wikisort.org - Sculpture

The statue of King Leopold II in the Belgian city of Ostend is located on the Royal Galleries by the beach.[1] King Leopold II of Belgium was commemorated here as a benefactor of Ostend and the Belgian Congo. The inauguration was on 19 July 1931.[1]

King Leopold II statue
Artist	Alfred Courtens
Year	1931
Location	Ostend, Belgium
Coordinates	51°13′38″N 2°54′17″E

The statue was vandalised in 2020 as part of the global Black Lives Matter movement after the murder of George Floyd. A petition to remove such statues was started to coincide with the 60th anniversary of Congo's independence from Belgium on 30 June 2020.[2][3][4][5]

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".[6]

History

While Leopold was alive, Thomas Vinçotte produced a portrait bust which is now in the Royal Greenhouses of Laeken.[7]

Shortly after Leopold died in 1909, plans started to honour him, as a benefactor of Ostend and the Belgian Congo.[7] After the First World War, the city government started work on plans for a statue.[7] Sculptor Alfred Courtens (1889-1967), was commissioned, together with his brother, the architect, Antoine Courtens (1899-1969).[8][1] 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.[7][8] On 22 September 1981 the statue was declared a protected monument.[8]

Description

The monument is known locally as "De Drie Gapers".[8][9] The middle of the three passages was made on the sea side.[10] The monument has an important architectural part that roughly consists of a voluminous upright column, with two horizontal bases on the left and right.[10] This gives a form of a kind of double L monogram (two L's turned away from each other), the monogram that Leopold II often used.[10] On top in bronze, Leopold II sits in military uniform on horseback looking over the North Sea.[10] At the bottom left a larger than life sculptural group, also in bronze, depicting "Thanks of the Congolese to Leopold II for freeing them from slavery among the Arabs".[10][1] On the right, a pendant, depicting "Tribute of the Ostend fishing population".[1]

Controversy

Congo Free State

Leopold was the founder and sole owner of the Congo Free State; a private project was undertaken on his behalf.[11] He used explorer Henry Morton Stanley to help him lay claim to the Congo, an area now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[11] At the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885, the colonial nations of Europe authorised his claim by committing the Congo Free State to improve the lives of the native inhabitants.[11]

From the beginning, Leopold ignored these conditions and millions of Congolese inhabitants, including children, were mutilated and killed.[11] He used great sums of the money from this exploitation for public and private construction projects in Belgium during this period.[11] He donated the private buildings to the state before his death.[11]

Leopold extracted a fortune from the Congo, initially by the collection of ivory, and after a rise in the price of rubber in the 1890s, by forced labour from the natives to harvest and process rubber.[11] Under his regime millions of Congolese people died.[11]

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.[11]

Vandalism

The Equestrian statue of King Leopold II has been vandalised in 2004 and 2020.[2][3][4][5] 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.[1] This was a reference to how Congolese slaves' hands were cut off if they did not produce enough rubber during Leopold's colonial regime.[1] The activists were willing to give the hand back if a historically correct sign would be placed near the statue.[12]

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".[6]

See also

• List of statues of Leopold II of Belgium

References

External links

• Photos
• Video of unveiling of statue in 1931

---