page_title: King Leopold II statue (Ostend)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: King Leopold II statue (Ostend) / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Léopold II by Thomas Vinçotte, in the Laeken Royal Greenhouses - Royal Castle of Laeken - Brussels, Belgium.
context_page_description: The statue of King Leopold II in the Belgian city of Ostend is located on the Royal Galleries by the beach. King Leopold II of Belgium was commemorated here as a benefactor of Ostend and of the Belgian Congo. The inauguration was on 19 July 1931.
  The statue was vandalised in 2020 as part of the global Black Lives Matter movement after the death of George Floyd. A petition to remove such statues is ongoing until 30 June 2020, the 60th anniversary of Congo's independence from Belgium.
context_section_description: While Leopold was alive, Thomas Vinçotte produced a portrait bust which is now in the Royal Greenhouses of Laeken. 
  Shortly after Leopold's death in 1909, plans were started to honor him, as benefactor of Ostend and of the Belgian Congo.
  After the First World War, the city government started work on plans for a statue. Sculptor Alfred Courtens (1889-1967), was commissioned, together with his brother, the architect, Antoine Courtens (1899-1969). 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. On 22 September 1981 the statue was declared a protected monument.
caption: Léopold II by Thomas Vinçotte - Laeken Royal Greenhouses
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