Statue Barthélémy Dumortier - Tournai

The memorial to Barthélémy Du Mortier, installed today at the foot of the Pont de Fer, on the corner of the Quai des Salines, was inaugurated on September 10, 1883.

It was established after a national registration and has been moved and then demolished several times. or damaged during the two world wars. The statue was made of marble by the sculptor Charles-Auguste Fraikin and rests on a limestone base decorated with motifs that recall B. du Mortier's passion and skills as a botanist . It is as a politician and defender of Belgium that the man is represented, in an attitude of eloquence, with his hand placed on a lion representing the homeland , and of pride.

In the early 1820s, Dumortier published his first contribution to botany, in Latin. The main purpose was to inventory the national flora . In 1827 he published the Flora Belgica , which used a natural classification .

In 1824 he founded Le Courrier de l'Escaut , a newspaper critical of the government . He was involved in the Belgian revolution of 1830 and became a member of the new parliament founded in 1831

Willem Vandenameele