‘Fons Sapientiae’ or ‘Fount of Wisdom’ statue in the Rector De Somerplein at Leuven in Flemish Brabant, Flanders, Belgium. The statue, by Belgian sculptor Jef Claerhout (1937 - 2022), was donated to Leuven in 1975. It features a man pouring a watery stream of wisdom and knowledge into his head while reading a book. In the background is Leuven’s Late Gothic Stadhuis or Town Hall.


Leuven, Flemish Brabant, Flanders, Belgium: in the Rector De Somerplein, a statue designed by Jef Claerhout (1937 - 2022), the ‘Fons Sapientiae’ or ‘Fount of Wisdom’, installed in 1975 to mark the 550th anniversary of the city’s Catholic University and nicknamed ‘Fonske’ by students. It features a man pouring a watery stream of wisdom and knowledge into his head while reading a book scrawled with a complex maths problem whose solution forms the Dutch word for happiness or luck (geluk). The name Fons Sapientiae was coined by Mon de Goeyse, PR manager of the university, at the request of Rector Piet De Somer. In the background in this image is Leuven’s magnificent Late Gothic Stadhuis, Town Hall or City Hall, built between 1448 and 1469.


Size: 2744px × 4113px
Location: Rector De Somerplein, Leuven, Flemish Brabant, Flanders, Belgium
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No

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