Come the revolution

Stรจle aux Heros

๐น๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘š ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘Š๐‘Ž๐‘ฃ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘Ž๐‘‘ ๐‘ค๐‘’ ๐‘ก๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ๐‘›๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ก, ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘ฆ ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘’, ๐‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”. ๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘ฆ ๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ ๐‘Ž ๐‘š๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘›๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”โ€™๐‘  ๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘โ„Ž ๐‘Ž๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ. ๐ต๐‘’๐‘ก๐‘ค๐‘’๐‘’๐‘› ๐‘ข๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘–๐‘ก ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘œ๐‘‘ ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘™๐‘ฆ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘›๐‘–๐‘”โ„Ž๐‘ก ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘’๐‘ . ๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘”๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐‘‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฆ ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘š ๐‘“๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘š ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘‘๐‘Ž๐‘ฆโ€™๐‘  ๐‘ ๐‘ข๐‘›. ๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐‘›๐‘œ ๐‘›๐‘’๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘Ž ๐‘“๐‘–๐‘Ÿ๐‘’. ๐‘Š๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘™๐‘’๐‘๐‘ก ๐‘™๐‘–๐‘”โ„Ž๐‘ก๐‘™๐‘ฆ, ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘œ๐‘ก๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘›, ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘™๐‘–๐‘”โ„Ž๐‘ก ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘’.

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It was only thanks to Les Amis de la Forรชt de Soignes that I finally ended an eight-year, very occasional search. In the rather folkloric Forest Museum at Groenendaal (a marvellous collection of pine cones and some assorted taxidermy in display cases and cabinets) there is a wall display showing the monuments scattered through the clearings and among the trees. I have found most of them. Some were more challenging than others.

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This particular elusive stรจle was the Gedenksteen โ€œ...Helden van 1830โ€ฆโ€ Here is a translation:

โ€œ๐‘€๐‘’๐‘š๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘Ž๐‘™ ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘’ โ€˜โ€ฆ ๐ป๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘“ 1830 โ€ฆโ€™

๐ต๐‘’๐‘ก๐‘ค๐‘’๐‘’๐‘› ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐ท๐‘–๐‘’๐‘๐‘’๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘™๐‘™๐‘’๐‘ค๐‘’๐‘” ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐ท๐‘Ž๐‘š๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘ข๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘’๐‘“ (๐ด๐‘ข๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘”โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘š)

โ€˜๐ถ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘› ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ƒ๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘ก๐‘ โ€™

๐ผ๐‘› ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘ก ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ก, ๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘†๐‘’๐‘๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘š๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ 1830, ๐‘ฃ๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘ข๐‘›๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘‘ ๐‘ก๐‘œ โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘š๐‘๐‘’๐‘‘ โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘œ ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘š๐‘’ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘‘ ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐ต๐‘Ÿ๐‘ข๐‘ ๐‘ ๐‘’๐‘™๐‘  ๐‘๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘ง๐‘’๐‘›๐‘  ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘œ โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘‘ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘’๐‘› ๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘ก ๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘š๐‘’. ๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐ด๐‘‘๐‘š๐‘–๐‘›๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘› ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘Š๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐น๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘  ๐‘๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘Ž ๐‘š๐‘’๐‘š๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘Ž๐‘™ ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘’ ๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘ก ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ก ๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘š๐‘’๐‘š๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘ . ๐‘‚๐‘› ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘’, ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘โ„Ž ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘Ž๐‘ข๐‘”๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘œ๐‘› 23 ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘š๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ 1930, ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘Ž ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘ง๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘ž๐‘ข๐‘’ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐‘‘๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘๐‘ฆ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐ถ๐‘œ๐‘๐‘˜๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘™๐‘™ ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘ข๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘’๐‘ .โ€

It does not stand by a path, and that is telling. Probably marking the sort of place where the patriots gathered before marching on Brussels, it is not placed for convenience but for record, donated by industry acknowledging its debt to Belgian statehood.

Heavy industry. Forest. Words that rarely sit comfortably together.

In 2030 I may show you the place, until then it rests undisturbed.

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