Eugène Simonis is only 19 when he leaves Liège and travels to Italy, visiting cities such as Bologna and Rome. There, he learns how to look: how sculptors capture emotion in stone through posture and facial expression. He brings that skill back with him to Belgium. 

Simonis gives Belgium a face. He creates sculptures for churches and public squares, apostles carved in stone, and lions standing guard over the Congress Column. Figures that anchor strength, faith and history in the urban landscape. 

On place Royale/Koningsplein stands his most famous masterpiece: Godfrey of Bouillon on horseback. Massive in bronze. A hero rising above the city. 

Simonis dies on 11 July 1882, on his own birthday. The square where he lived and worked throughout his life is later named after him. A city’s tribute to the sculptor who helped shape its streets and façades.  

His bust still stands there today. Remarkably, he sculpted it himself.