A forgotten statue in the corner of a romantic Brussels park shows a young couple gazing adoringly at their newborn son.
Titled ‘The Birth of the Nation’, the work was carved by the Belgian sculptor Marius Vos, who emigrated as a child with his parents to the United States.
He carved the statue in 1937 to display in the American pavilion at the Paris World Fair. Vos was awarded a gold medal for the work, which he gifted to Brussels in 1968.
Derek Blyth’s hidden secret of the day: Derek Blyth is the author of the bestselling “The 500 Hidden Secrets of Belgium”. He picks out one of his favourite hidden secrets for The Brussels Times every day.
