Koningsplein - Statue of Godfrey of Bouillon
Equestrian bronze of a crusader duke raising his banner, cast in eighteen forty eight to give a new nation a shared hero.
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About this audio guide
This guide to the equestrian statue on Koningsplein in Brussels starts with a different bronze figure entirely: Charles of Lorraine, the Austrian governor whose statue once stood on this pedestal until revolutionary troops melted it down for cannons. It follows the empty plinth to 1848, when a newly independent, religiously and linguistically divided Belgium commissioned sculptor Eugene Simonis to fill it with a crusader duke from seven centuries earlier, and traces a Parisian foundry that went bankrupt partway through casting the twelve tons of bronze. Stand back to take in the full height of the raised banner before reading the plaque at the base.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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