The Russian Federation offered Belgium a statue of the famous Russian poet Alexander S. Pushkin on the occasion of the bicentenary of his birth.

On 30 September 1999, in one of the squares of the Brussels commune of Laeken, which was renamed «Pushkin Square» after the illustrious poet. The official inauguration took place in the presence of the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Louis Michel, the mayor of Brussels, François-Xavier de Donnea, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Igor Ivanov, the Ambassador of the Russian Federation, Sergei Kisliak, the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Egorov and Mr. and Mrs. Pushkin.

The construction of the monument was entrusted to Georgy Franguliane, a renowned sculptor in Russia.

On a bronze pedestal is an inscription in three languages: French, Dutch, Russian.

In creating this bronze Pushkin, the sculptor set himself the task of conveying the atmosphere in which his writings were born: the creaking of the pen, the light of the candle, the rustling of the paper on the lectern.

The poet’s hand presses the fatal wound inflicted during the duel with Danthes.

This event took place in the year when Russia celebrated the bicentenary of the birth of Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin, the free thinker, who was banned from traveling abroad.

Interestingly, his famous great-grandfather, Abraham Petrovich Hannibal, godson of Peter the Great, was part of the delegation that accompanied Peter the Great to the Netherlands in 1717 (Belgium was then called the Austrian Netherlands). He visited the shipyards in order to learn the art of building ships (Peter the Great wanted to endow Russia with a military fleet), and also went to France to study fortifications (Vauban).

In 2014, the monument to Pushkin was threatened with displacement. According to the Laeken municipal mobility plan, a new tram line was to pass through the square. Bad jokers had fun saying that " Pushkin was knocked down by a tram»

But the descendants of the poet, Maria Alexandrovna and Alexander Alexandrovich Pushkin and many admirers of the work of A. S. Pushkin organized a large-scale campaign for the preservation of the monument, and the threat backfired.

On Pushkin Square, the Pushkin Foundation in collaboration with the «Willemsfond» organize on June 06, the anniversary of the poet, a commemoration at the foot of the monument and a selected reading of his works, regardless of the weather.

Since 2010, on the initiative of the UN, June 06 is also the International Day of the Russian language.

On this day, one can hear Pushkin’s immortal verses read in Russian, French, Dutch and other languages of the world.