The Canal Diggers - Willy Peeters

On February 9, 2010, it was officially 250 years since the first spade was put into the ground for the construction of the Leuven-Dijle canal. The working group for the 250 years of the Leuven-Dijle canal deemed it appropriate to place a permanent memorial to this commemoration of the first spade stroke at the Vaartkom in Leuven. source: leuven.be
The canal from Leuven to the Dijle is one of the oldest canals in Belgium, after the Lisseweegse Vaart. On January 29, 1750, Empress Maria Theresa granted permission for the construction of a canal between Leuven and Mechelen through a patent. Leuven had advocated for more than two hundred years for a connection to a waterway to facilitate trade with sea vessels. On February 9, 1750, Prince Charles of Lorraine made the first spade stroke in Wilsele. The beautifully crafted wooden wheelbarrow can still be admired in the municipal museum of Leuven. However, the silver spade is missing. On December 21, 1752, the canal was filled with water. However, it would take until 1763 before the canal could be used due to problems with the locks and dikes. The canal originally only had two locks, which caused flooding. Later, this was increased to five locks: Tildonk, Kampenhout-Sas, Boortmeerbeek, Battel, and Zennegat. Between 1836 and 1837, the canal was adapted for vessels with a draft of up to 3.60 m, and Kampenhout-Sas was also rebuilt. The canal was important for the transport of goods and passengers, but from 1837, passenger transport declined when the railway line between Leuven and Mechelen was put into service. The canal can be navigated by class II vessels (600 tons), has a total length of 30km (30,043 m), and a depth of 2.3 m. source: wikipedia

The statue consists of six workers. It is a permanent memorial to the excavations carried out by 500 workers.

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