Envol de la Wallonie Statue

These flexible girls steal the show here...

L'Envol de la Wallonie is a monumental work (5 m high) in bronze by the sculptor René Julien (born in Liège in 1937, but living in the Lubéron). It is symbolised by two young girls playing leapfrog. This allegory was commissioned by the Walloon government at the request of Prime Minister Guy Spitaels, shortly after he took office in 1992. The work was to be placed in the gardens of the Élysette. The work was completed when Guy Spitaels was replaced as regional head by Robert Collignon (Prime Minister from 1994 to 1999). He preferred to integrate this creation into the pedestrianisation of the quays of the Meuse in Liège (where it was placed in 1997), reserving the planned location in the gardens of the Élysette for a monumental cockerel, commissioned from the artist De Pas.