Statue of Counts Egmont and Horn
At the center, as a symbol of the struggle against Spanish tyranny, are the statues of the counts of Egmont and Horne on an impressive pedestal. This group of statues by Charles-Auguste Fraikin from 1864 was originally intended for the Bread House on the Grand Place of Brussels, precisely on the spot where the scaffold on which the depicted graves were executed had stood. In 1879, the monument was moved to in front of the former city palace of the Count of Egmont, which at that time belonged to the Duke of Arenberg.
The artist has depicted both graves at the moment when they are led to the scaffold. Egmont, with hat on his head and handkerchief in hand, has a strong-willed expression. The Count of Horne holds his velvet hat in one hand and places the other on the shoulder of his companion. The particularly high pedestal in (neo-)Gothic style is decorated with the coats of arms of the two Lords. Two landsknechts flank the pedestal. A gilded plaque bears the following inscription: Aux comtes d'Egmont et de Hornes, condamnés par sentences inique du duc d'Albe et décapités à Bruxelles le 5 juin 1568 (To the counts of Egmont and Hoorn, by unjust sentence by the Duke of Alva was convicted and beheaded in Brussels on June 5, 1568).