Bathing Ladies In ‘t Zand Square Fountain – Bruges, Belgium
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 51° 12.290 E 003° 13.069
31U E 515216 N 5672625
These nude female figures form one of four groups of figurative sculptures surrounding a large fountain in the middle of the square.
Waymark Code: WMFE5G
Location: West-Vlaanderen, Belgium
Date Posted: 10/05/2012
Views: 7
‘t Zand is the largest public square in Bruges. It is situated where the old railway station used to be. It is used as an open air market at weekends and as a venue as an open air concert site.
In the middle of the square is thie large fountain with 4 separate sculptures by the husband and wife sculptors Stefaan De Puydt and Livia Canestraro.
This sculpture of 4 ladies bathing in the fountain represents the main Flemish Cities of Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp and Kortrijk. Three of the ladies have for some reason birds on their head.
Next to one of the females is a dog. I cannot find any direct reference to this, but there is a herding breed of dog known as
Bouvier des Flandres and also a novel called
A Dog of Flanders partly set in Antwerp. The dog in the sculpture may represent either of these, but the Bouvier des Flandres is a much hairier dog than depicted in the sculpture.
These cities lie in the West Flanders region of Belgium. Next to the sculpture is a poem dedicated to this area written by Rene De Cleroc.
DE VIER VLAAMS STEDEN
DAAR IS MAAR EEN LAND, DAT MIJN LAND KAN ZIZN.
DAAR RUKT NIET DE RHONE, DAAR STROOMT NIET DE RIJN.
DAAR VLOEIT MAAR DE LEYE EN DE SCHELD’ DIE BRANDT.
DAAR IS MAAR EEN VLAANDEREN, ‘T IS MIJN LAND!
RENE DE CLEROC
This translates roughly as
THE FOUR FLEMISH CITIES
THERE IS ONLY ONE COUNTRY THAT MY COUNTRY CAN BE.
IT DOES NOT HAVE THE RIVER RHONE NOR THE RIVER RHINE.
IT ONLY HAS THE RIVER LYE AND SCHELDT.
THERE IS ONLY ONE FLANDERS IT IS MY COUNTRY!