The Petit Sablon (French) / Kleine Zavel (Dutch) Park

Petit Sablon / Kleine Zavel Park

The Petit Sablon (French) / Kleine Zavel (Dutch) Park is located in the middle of the Petit Sablon (French) / Kleine Zavel (Dutch) square, which is located between the Grand Sablon (French) / Grote Zavel (Dutch) square and the Egmont Palace. It is a very little park, but it is worth to be seen with its 58 sculptures. It is also ideally located to take a look with its location near the Royal Palace of Brussels, the square of the Grand Sablon (French) / Grote Zavel (Dutch), the Royal Museums of Fine Arts and the Magritte Museum.

Sculptures

This park is surrounded by an ornate wrought iron fence inspired from the one that was decorating the Coudenberg Palace. The park is also surrounded by 48 bronze statues representing historical professions.

The 48 bronze statues around the park

  1. The Four Crowned (it was the union of masons, stonecutters, sculptors and slate-makers) (statue with a compass, an unrolled plan, at the feet an element of sculpture and mason’s and slate tools)
  2. Bakers (statue with a baking shovel)
  3. Brewers (statue with a tree)
  4. Upholsterers (statue with a reel with thread),
  5. Butchers (statue with a cutlass and pouch on the belt)
  6. Salt fish merchants (statue with a fish and a small barrel)
  7. Millers (statue with a mill wheel and a mill),
  8. Gilders (statue with a pallet, a brushes and a bucket)
  9. Glovemakers (statue with gloves in hand and scissors on the belt),
  10. Greasers (statue with a goose and a bottle),
  11. Goldsmiths (statue with relic and vase)
  12. Trimmings (statue with cord and floche)
  13. Cabinetmakers (statue with plane and compass)
  14. Embroiderers and Peltiers (statue with a fur coat)
  15. Coopers (statue with wooden hoop)
  16. Cutlers (statue with knife in a sheath)
  17. Vegetable producers and Sawyers (statue with a saw)
  18. Barbers and Surgeons (statue with pot and box of instruments)
  19. Retail cloth merchants and shoe makers (statue with a piece of cloth and hosiery at the belt)
  20. Wine merchants (statue with bottles, goblet and barrel)
  21. Locksmiths and watchmakers (statue with the clock and bunch of keys)
  22. Painters, gold beaters and glassmakers (statue with a palette and brush)
  23. Fruit producer (statue with the fruit basket)
  24. Saddlers and coachbuilders (statue with saddle and car stretcher)
  25. Tailors (statue with clothes and scissors)
  26. Wool weavers (statue with weaving shuttle),
  27. Boatmen (statue with oars, rope and anchor)
  28. Carpenters (statue with axe)
  29. Second-hand clothes dealers (statue with the hat and piece of cloth)
  30. Cloth Weavers and Cloth Merchants (statue with a shuttle)
  31. Smiths (statute with the hammer)
  32. haberdashers (statue with the scale and skein of wool)
  33. Belt-makers and pin-makers (statue with a belts)
  34. Dyers (statue with a pot in hand, container and stove on the base)
  35. Cloth shearers, drapers and cloth merchants (statue with scissors)
  36. Cobblers (statue with boots and shoes)
  37. Freshwater fish merchants (statue with nets and fish)
  38. cobblers (statute with a pair of shoes),
  39. Arquebusiers (statue with the arquebus and anvil),
  40. Manufacturers of Spanish leather chairs and wig makers (statue with a chair)
  41. Tanners (statue with a beef skin)
  42. Hatters, fullers and brandeviniers (statue with a hat)
  43. Chair turners, thatched roofers and basket makers (statue with a turned baluster and wicker basket),
  44. Boilermakers and foundrymen (statue with pot, can and hammer),
  45. Launderers (statue with the shovel)
  46. Tile roofers (statue with the ladder)
  47. Tinsmiths-plumbers (statue with the lead roller and bellows)
  48. Armourers, helmeters and furbishers (statue with the sword and helmet)

The fountain

In the center of the little park, the fountain of the Counts of Egmont and Horne is the symbol of the resistance against the Spanish during the 16th century. But this fountain was originally located in front the King’s House of the Grand Place.

The 10 statues around the fountain

This fountain is also surrounded by 10 statues arranged in a semicircle and representing politicians, scholars or artists of the 16th century, with from left to right:

  1. Philippe de Marnix de Sainte-Aldegonde (1538-1598), statesman, soldier, poet, polemicist, theologian and pedagogue
  2. Abraham Ortelius (1527-1598), mathematician and geographer
  3. Bernard van Orley, (c.1491-1541), painter
  4. Jean de Locquenghien (1518-1574), mayor and magistrates of Brussels
  5. Mercator (1512-1594), cartographer
  6. Dodonée (1518-1585), botanist
  7. Cornelis de Vriendt, (1518-1578), sculptor and architect
  8. de Bréderode (1531-1568), Brussels patriot
  9. Louis van Bodeghem (c.1470-1540), architect,
  10. William the Silent, Prince of Orange

Finally, around the park, the square is made of building of the 19th and 17th centuries.

How to get to the Petit Sablon / Kleine Zavel Park?

Located between the Royal Palace of Brussels and the courthouse of Brussels, this park is therefore very easy to access.

The park is located next to the public transport stop Petit Sabon (French) / Kleine Zavel (Dutch). The following bus lines 204, 205, 206, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 27, 33 and 95 have their stop there. The tram 92 and 93 also have a stop on the Petit Sabon (French) / Kleine Zavel (Dutch). More information on www.stib-mivb.be.

Opening hours

The park is accessible every day, following the following opening hours:

1Oct – 31 Mar8:15 – 17:45
1 Apr – 30 Apr8:15 – 18:45
1 May – 31 Aug8:15 – 20:45
1 Sep – 30 Sep8:15 – 19:45

Other practical information

Finally, in this classified site it is forbidden to walk on the lawns.