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King Leopold II and Princess Clémentine visit colonial celebrations in Antwerp on the occasion of the Congo's annexation to Belgium in 1909. International opposition and criticism at home from the Catholic Party, Progressive Liberals [52] and the Labour Party caused the Belgian Parliament to compel the king to cede the Congo Free State to ...
The oldest statue is a bronze medal of Leopold II embedded into a stone pier, erected in 1911. It contains the text 'A / LA MEMOIRE / DU ROI DES BELGES / LEOPOLD II / HOTE DU CAP FERRAT. QUELQUES AMIS / DE LA COTE D AZUR / 1911' ("To the memory of the King of the Belgians, Leopold II, Host of the Cap Ferrat.
In the mid-19th century, King Leopold I dreamed of turning the uninhabited Koekelberg hill in north-western Brussels into a royal residence area. After his death, his son, King Leopold II, envisaged building a Belgian Panthéon dedicated to Great Belgians there, [2] inspired by the French Panthéon in Paris, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Belgian independence.
Belgian Chamber of Representatives passes a law that authorized King Leopold II of Belgium to become head of the state founded in Africa by the International Association of the Congo. 30 April The senate ratifies the law creating the Congo Free State . [2] 13 May Georges-Guillaume Pagels replaces Guillaume Casman as head of Équateur Station .
To do this, the Belgian State raised more than 625,000 Belgian francs. [a] On 31 May 1914, the Belgian official journal and the press launched an appeal for anyone wishing to contribute to erecting the statue. The appeal mentioned that during 35 years, Belgium, under Leopold II's leadership, had expanded by a magnificent colony. [4]
King Leopold II, whose rule of the Congo Free State was marked by severe atrocities, violence and major population decline.. Even before his accession to the throne of Belgium in 1865, the future king Leopold II began lobbying leading Belgian politicians to create a colonial empire in the Far East or in Africa, which would expand and enhance Belgian prestige. [2]
A statue of King Leopold II of the Belgians was installed in Ekeren, Flanders, Belgium, until 2020. [1] The statue was designed by Belgian sculptor Joseph Ducaju, made of sandstone from Bad Bentheim, and was erected in 1873, eight years into Leopold's reign, as the first statue to commemorate him as king.
Prestation de serment de Léopold II", gouache on albumen photograph by Louis-Joseph Ghémar (1865). Seven days following Leopold I's death, his oldest son Prince Leopold was sworn in as Leopold II on 17 December 1865. He arrived on horseback at the Palace of the Nation with his brother Philippe and received enthusiastic public praise. [12]