Stone statue of a man with a flag and a hat in his hand.
Opschrift(en) / Inscription(s)
de turnhoutse
patriot
1789 1989
Gesigneerd / Signature
leo van herwegen
Aantekening / Annotation
The statue commemorates the Battle of Turnhout (27 October 1789), which took place in the town of Turnhout between Habsburg Austria and a Belgian émigré (Patriot) army commanded by Jean-André van der Mersch which had recently invaded from the nearby Dutch Republic. The battle was one of the pivotal moments of the Brabant Revolution and the Patriots' unlikely victory led to the expulsion of Austrian forces to Luxembourg from the Southern Netherlands for nearly a year.
