In front of the pretty central-Brussels church of Notre Dame du Sablon is the shaded and beautifully laid-out garden of ‘Petit Sablon’. The centrepiece of the garden is a gently sprinkling fountain in the centre of which is a large statue to the memory of two Belgian Counts who were beheaded in 1568 for their religious beliefs by the Spanish Duke of Alba, the then-ruler of the Belgians.
Around the edge of the garden are a dozen or so niches in the shrubbery in which you will find statues of famous Belgians of years gone by. To my shame, the only one that I could recognise is this gentleman below, Gerard Mercator, who died in 1594. Thanks to Mr. Mercator we have ‘Mercator’s Projection’ of our circular globe which allows us to accurately lay-out maps onto a flat paper projection which, initially, was a major benefit for mariners.
