Baron Lambermont monument

The monument to Baron Lambermont, designed by Léandre Grandmoulin in collaboration with architect F. Van Holder, was unveiled in 1912 on Lambermontplaats in Antwerp. It commemorates, among other things, the buying out of the Scheldt toll in 1863 by Baron François Auguste Lambermont. 

The sculpture consists of a bronze group set on a large stone construction, shaped like the bow of a ship merging into a tall and heavy pedestal. At the centre of the pedestal are Lambermont’s life-sized bronze statue with his name and title, surrounded by inscriptions referring to major treaties and political events. These include the establishment of the Congo Free State at the Berlin Conference of 1885, where Lambermont played a decisive role on behalf of Leopold II. 

Thus, the monument pays tribute not only to his role in freeing the Scheldt but also to his part in the international recognition of Leopold’s colonial project. In doing so, it memorializes Lambermont as one of the architects of the repressive and violent Belgian colonial rule in Congo, which lasted until 1960. 

François Auguste Baron Lambermont (1819–1905) was a senior Belgian civil servant, diplomat, and Minister of State. He played a crucial role in the negotiations to buy out the Scheldt toll from the Netherlands, which allowed the port of Antwerp to flourish once again. For many years, Lambermont was at the centre of Belgian foreign policy and a trusted confidant of King Leopold II. 

Léandre Grandmoulin (1873–1957) was an eclectic sculptor who studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels and later became a teacher at the Academy of Sint-Gillis.