Ostend residents protest against Dikke Mathille’s relocation
The city of Ostend has asked the Flemish Heritage Service to be allowed to move the statue to the Kursaal. Architect Leon Steynen had planned it this way in 1953 and Dikke Mathille was actually there for 10 years. The statue then moved to the Leopold II-Laan, in the middle of the city.
“Can be admired from all sides”
The statue is now ready for renovation, and the city council sees this as the ideal time to move Dikke Mathille. However, several Ostend residents are not in favor of that plan. “She would be lying there in a place where everyone flees from the wind. And here she is lying very nicely. When you enter Ostend, you can admire it from all sides. Why would we move it?” , says Chantal Acke of the citizens’ initiative ‘Dikke Mathille’.
(Read more below the photo.)
T-shirts
The citizens’ initiative took action today at the sculpture of George Grard. They also had T-shirts made with an unmistakable message: “Bluff me with your ass from Mathille”. In the town hall, councilor Björn Anseeuw says that there is no date yet for moving Dikke Mathille and that a public inquiry will follow, during which all objections will be collected.