Monument Peter Benoit

Nice when the weather is warm

Peter Benoit statue in Harmonia Park in Antwerp. Antwerp architect Henry van de Velde designed the Art Deco fountain in honor of Peter Benoit. The fountain was originally located on the Frankrijklei in front of the Flemish Opera, but in 1951 it was moved to the south corner of Harmonie Park. In 1997 it was classified as a historical monument. At the end of May 2017, the restored monument was put into use again. The project by Henry van de Velde, an important representative of the Art Nouveau in Belgium, is a good example of an interwar sculpture in a subdued Art Deco style. This extensive architectural and sculptural complex consists of a rectangular pond-pond, limited by a screen wall on which the composer's name and his year of birth and death are written in large letters in a light relief: on the left side "1834 / PETER" and on the right "BENOIT / 1901 ". The center of the wall is occupied by an almost full-plastic sculpture of a lyre by Oscar Jespers, which serves as a housing for the outflow of water to the shallow reservoir below. On the front sides of the screen wall are the titles of his most important works carved in relief: "LUCIFER, DE SCHELDE, WOJNA, RUBENSCANTATE, THE WORLD, ON THE RHINE". From the above-mentioned reservoir around the lyre, water flows in a cascade to a large rectangular reservoir in the foreground, limited by a low wall of white marble and a pipe railing. It is worth recalling that the water reservoirs symbolize the Scheldt, which provided Peter Benoit with a lot of inspiration, which can also be seen in his famous oratorio "De Schelde".