Anspach Fountain

The Anspach Fountain (Fontaine Anspach, Anspachfontein) is an eclectic-style fountain-obelisk erected between 1895 and 1897 in the centre of the Place de Brouckère/De Brouckèreplein in Brussels, Belgium. Designed by the architect Charles-Émile Janlet, it is dedicated to the memory of Jules Anspach, a former mayor of the City of Brussels. The monument was dismantled in 1973 following construction work on the Brussels Metro. It was reinstalled in 1981 in its current location on the Square des Blindés/Pantsertroepensquare, between the Quai aux Briques/Baksteenkaai and the Quai au Bois à Brûler/Brandhoutkaai, in the Quays or Sainte-Catherine/Sint-Katelijne Quarter. The Anspach Fountain was designed by the architect Charles-Émile Janlet and erected between 1895 and 1897 in the centre of the Place de Brouckère/De Brouckèreplein, left empty by the destruction of the former Temple of the Augustinians. The fountain pays homage to Jules Anspach, mayor of the City of Brussels from 1863 to 1879, as well as promoter of the covering of the river Senne (1867–1871) and the creation of the Central Boulevards. This monument stood exactly in the axis of the Boulevard Anspach/Anspachlaan, like a regulator of traffic at the birth of the fork between the Boulevard Émile Jacqmain/Émile Jacqmainlaan and the Boulevard Adolphe Max/Adolphe Maxlaan. It was considered in its time the most beautiful and the grandest in the city. The fountain was dismantled and removed in 1973 to make way for access to De Brouckère metro station, with the pieces temporarily stored in a warehouse. The authorities had promised to put the monument back in place after the works, but it was eventually reinstalled in May 1981 in a basin that occupies the space between the Quai aux Briques/Baksteenkaai and the Quai au Bois à Brûler/Brandhoutkaai, in the Quays or Sainte-Catherine/Sint-Katelijne Quarter, some 700 metres (2, 300 ft) from the Place de Brouckère.

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