スプリモンの湖・トップ12

The Chawion pond is a site of biological interest, with numerous amphibians and insects in the surrounding wetland.

Since the 2021 floods, it still looks desolate and silted up. No immediate renovations are planned, it seems. For green enthusiasts, it's an ecological asset with all those wildly sprouting shrubs in the silted-up lake. It puts a damper on the tourist activity that used to be around the lake. Give me water back soon, or is the plan to keep it cheap and let things take their course? So, let's look back at the beautiful images of the former 'Lac de Warfaaz'...

A friend of George Grard, Charles Leplae, like him, appreciated the depiction of female nudes. He regularly imbued them with reserved, pensive, and introspective poses. True to this style and the artist's taste for allegories, this grave-looking sculpture embodies both a young girl and the young woman. Kneeling on the banks of the Deer Pond, in a bucolic setting, it is certainly the most delicate work in the collection. To be brought to the Sart Tilman estate, the original 3.5-meter-high work, installed at the National Bank of Belgium, was reduced to life-size scale and then placed slightly back in its current green setting, into which it blends perfectly, both in color and in its restrained poetry.

Luckily I didn't come to swim because the water level was quite low.

Charles Leplae Leplae's art is entirely focused on the human figure, especially women. When he represents her naked, he transcends this very nakedness to elevate her to the rank of symbol. The young girl, frozen in bronze, is more than her model. The chaste nudity, the seriousness of the expression, the modest gesture give the representation a universal dimension. This allegory of one of the eras of women could not find a more important location, near a pond rich in the seeds of life. The original 3.5 m high work, designed in 1951, is installed in the architectural complex of the National Bank of Belgium in Brussels. Sculpting techniques make it possible to reproduce and reduce works. Life-size, installed in a wooded setting, the kneeling girl commands respect for the place in an almost authoritative manner and invites an inner dialogue.

Here you can sit on a bench with a view of the pond.

Here you can relax on a bench with a view of the pond and the water features

Former quarry now used as a diving center. Magnificent rock visible from the path but the site is only accessible to the diving club