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Genuine Flemish Master

Observed in Brugge, Flanders, 1967





This graffito appeared on the plinth of the statue in Jan Van Eyck Plats in Brugge, Belgium, in 1967/68 at the height of the linguistic war. What was at issue was the call to convert the francophone university of Louvain, situated within Flanders, to a Flemish institution. Louvain had a long and distinguished history but the francophone part eventually moved elsewhere and the rest remained in the more correctly named Leuven. Brugge, though in the heart of Flanders, had also been universally referred to as Bruges up to this time. I am particularly taken with this graffito for its powerful use of the existing environment to invoke the support of a noted Fleming.


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