Legend of the Flora Goddess statue

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According to a legend, the daughter of the lord of Veltwijck, who owned a castle in the town of Ekeren, near Antwerp, Belgium, fell in love with a simple servant working in the gardens of the castle. The lord did everything to stop his virgin daughter to be deflowered by the servant and out of despair he imprisoned his daughter in one of the towers of his castle, he had the servant banned from coming near to the castle ever again.

But the love between the two was so intense that the daughter got very depressed. She missed her lover so much that she jumped out of her jailed window into the pond surrounding the castle to escape her unlucky destiny. Unfortunately, she drowned.

Picture by Harry Fabel

The lord was very remorseful and as a sign of mourning, he wanted to put a statue in the garden of his castle remembering his daughter. He didn't want the image of the statue to resemble the image of his daughter because out of shame he could not face her anymore.

He got the idea to make a statue of the Goddess Flora. Because just like the Goddess Flora, his daughter loved flowers and she could spend hours walking by the flowerbeds of the castle.

The forever grieving father also wanted a procession to come through the park and castle every year walking past his daughter's statue. The procession did go through the park. When the procession stepped under the castle's gatehouse, the tower bell was sounded. The last time that the procession walked through the park was in 1966, after that year the father and his daughter were forever forgotten and their story turned into a legend.

But still now, sometimes when you walk thru the gatehouse you can hear the tower bell, all do it has been removed ages ago. Also, the Flora Goddess is still standing in the garden of the castle, looking like it's been searching for a long-lost love that went wrong.

Picture by Harry Fabel


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