Brussels, May 20th, 2025 (CPA) – The fresco by the artist Chéri Samba from the Democratic Republic of Congo, inaugurated in June 2002 and which adorned the entrance to the Matonge district in the municipality of Ixelles in Brussels, disappeared a few weeks ago, has announced the Belgian French-speaking community radio and television station (RTBF).
This emblematic fresco, which ‘was one of the visible landmarks that catches the eye when arriving at the Chaussée d’Ixelles from the Porte de Namur’, is a twelve (12) by fifteen (15) metre reproduction on canvas of the work ‘Porte de Namur, porte de l’amour’ by this Congolese artist. The original is kept at the Ixelles museum. « We had to remove it about a month ago. It was in too bad a state, too damaged’, has explained Julie de Groote, alderman in charge of Urban Planning at the municipality of Ixelles, who announced that “’a new reproduction will be made to be replaced”’. The new fresco should be installed ‘normally in the course of this summer’, after ‘urban planning details’ have been sorted out. A second version was placed in the same location in June 2010, after a four-year absence. According to the local authority, the new reproduction will cost around €5,000 to produce. CPA/