Promenade d'Orléans - Spa

In 1787, the sick Madame la duchesse d'Orléans traveled with her entire family to Spa to take a spa treatment.

After the mineral water cure at the fountain of Sauvenière , her health was restored. To celebrate her recovery, her children had a small cylindrical monument erected near the famous source. Among her children was the future king of France from 1830 to 1848, Louis-Philippe I, father of Louise-Marie d'Orléans, wife of our first king, Leopold I. The monument is made of wood painted to imitate white marble.

According to Spadois historian Albin Body, the "Promenade d'Orléans" at that time was limited to the path connecting the Sauvenière source to the monument erected in 1787. During the French Revolution, on December 6, 1792, the monument was destroyed .

In 1837, our sovereign Leopold I and his wife Louise-Marie d'Orléans visited the site of Sauvenière and the queen decided to ask her father to restore the monument . In 1839, the small promenade along the Sauvenière stream (ru del Sâv'nîre) was extended to the edge of the forest. Small rustic bridges were built over the stream and benches were installed. At the time, this extension was known as the "Promenade du Ravin".

Willem Vandenameele