A Falling Horse in Leuven

‘Falling Horse’ (‘Vallend Paard’ ) is hidden in the small garden surrounding the Faculty of Arts (‘Erasmushuis’) in Leuven.

The statue is a work by Belgian sculptor Rik Poot (1924-2006), who also sculpted ‘The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse’ we admired in Bruges (Arendts Garden).

Horse and rider are constant themes in the history of sculpting, but Rik Poot gives a new spin to this subject. Instead of the typical heroic creature, he makes it look tragic, broken even. 

This monument that shows a horse falling on the ground is quite important to the students here. After all, if the horse falls, so will the rider. They are both relying on one another. This is the case too among students. If they help one another, they will do way better than facing it all alone. This is why this monument is located at the university. 

 ( Source: https://www.tripadvisor.com/) photo by Aslı Tezcan