Belgium
Commemorative monuments — from Ekeren to Cointe, 1927-1946
This route brings together commemorative and funerary monuments erected in Belgium from 1927 to 1946, which their records associate with Art Deco. In Antwerp, Alfons Lambert Baggen’s war memorial in Ekeren (1930), the monument to Adelbert Kennis by Eduard Van Steenbergen, architect of the Unitas garden city (1928), and Henry Van de Velde’s monument-fountain to Peter Benoit, with a lyre carved by Oscar Jespers (1933-1934). Next come the war memorials of Burcht (1930) and Sint-Gillis-bij-Dendermonde (1931), combined with a fountain, then the Sacred Heart monument in Tielt (1938). War Van Asten made the bas-reliefs of the Warneton war memorial (1929) and the stone in honour of Matteotti (1927), re-erected in Wasmes, where the war memorial of 1933 also stands. Then come Henry Lacoste’s Lasserre funerary monument in Dworp (1946), the column of the Belgian bluestone quarries in Brussels (1934) and Joseph Smolderen’s Inter-Allied Memorial in Cointe (1937), a votive tower with Art Deco tendencies.
12 stops · Duration nationwide · Distance multi-villes
Monument aux morts d'Ekeren — Anvers
A First World War memorial in Ekeren, inaugurated on 10 August 1930 to a design by the Borgerhout sculptor Alfons Lambert Baggen.
Monument Adelbert Kennis — Anvers-Deurne
Memorial to Adelbert Kennis (1854-1924), co-founder and chairman of the Unitas garden suburb cooperative, erected by the cooperative on the square named after him and unveiled on 15 July 1928.
Monument Peter Benoit — Anvers
Bluestone memorial fountain dedicated to the composer Peter Benoit (1834-1901), designed in 1933 by Henry Van de Velde and unveiled in 1934 on the square in front of the Flemish Opera on the Frankrijklei.
Monument aux morts de Burcht — Burcht (Beveren-Kruibeke-Zwijndrecht)
Bluestone memorial in the Art Deco style to the fallen of both world wars, by the architect Frans Cools and the sculptor Simon Goossens, unveiled on 20 July 1930 in the Burcht cemetery.
Monument aux morts, Burgemeester Potiaulaan — Termonde (Sint-Gillis)
Art Deco war memorial in Sint-Gillis near Dendermonde, combined with a public fountain.
Monument du Sacré-Cœur, Ieperstraat — Tielt
Sacred Heart memorial erected in 1938 to a design by the Tielt artist Maurice Vander Meeren, which the inventory describes as a memorial in the Art Deco style.
Monument aux morts de Warneton — Warneton (Comines-Warneton)
Designed in 1928 by the architect Van Hoenacker and the sculptor War Van Asten, the First World War memorial was unveiled in July 1929.
Monument Matteotti — Wasmes (Colfontaine)
Tall monumental Art Deco stone bearing inscriptions, made in 1927 by War Van Asten in honour of Matteotti, the Italian hero and symbol of freedom.
Monument aux morts de Wasmes — Wasmes (Colfontaine)
Standing like an isolated beacon in the middle of a block, this Art Deco war memorial was erected by the contractor Tricourt; the record dates it "around 1935", but its data give the date-stone year 1933.
Monument funéraire Lasserre — Dworp (Beersel)
Funerary monument of the Lasserre family in the Dworp cemetery, designed by Henry Lacoste and erected in 1946 after the death of the young Roseline Lasserre; the plans, kept at CIVA, are dated 10 May and 1 October 1946.
Monument des carrières de petit granit belge
An Art Deco monument designed in 1934 for the Société de Vente de Petit Granit Belge by the architects Charles Van Nueten and Maurice Keym.
Mémorial interallié de Cointe
A memorial completed and inaugurated in 1937 to plans by the Antwerp architect Joseph Smolderen, dedicated to the martyrs of the 1914-1918 war and later also to those of the Second World War.
Translated from the French original.