I finally made my way to Antwerp’s main square, called Grote Markt, last night. Then I wandered to an adjacent square next to the Cathedral of our Lady and found this pleasant surprise: a boy and his dog snoozing in the middle of the square covered by a “blanket” of cobblestones. A little girl couldn’t resist running up and down the slope of the blanket. The public art is inspired by an 1872 novella called “A Dog of Flanders” about an orphan boy named Nello and his dog Patrasche. Interestingly, although the story is set in Antwerp, it was virtually unknown in Belgium. “A Dog of Flanders” was written by a British author and only became famous a century later after it was turned into a wildly popular anime series in Japan.
Nello was an inspiring artist who went to the cathedral to see Ruben’s artwork which is in the church (I haven’t seen it yet). This was on a bitterly cold night. Nello and Patrasche find one of the church doors open, so they make their way inside. Sadly, the two are found frozen to death underneath one of the Rubens paintings the next morning. What a sad story! An artist named Batist Vermeulen made this marble artwork of the pair, a boy and his dog together forever.
Nello and Patrasche slumber in front of Antwerp’s Cathedral of Our Lady, located at Groenplaats 21.