Thread by @JamesLucasIT

Once a year, a full heart appears in this tomb.

A breathtaking mausoleum born from a sculptor’s deep sorrow for his late wife 🧵

This is the final resting place of Léonce Evrard and his wife (1850-1916) at the Cimetière de Laeken in Brussels.

During the summer solstice, and a few days before and after June 21, sunlight streams through the roof, casting a heart-shaped pattern inside the burial chapel.

Evrard, a marble sculptor renowned for his expertise in stone ornaments, was profoundly affected by the passing of his wife, Louise Flignot.

As a tribute to their love, he commissioned this unique mausoleum in her memory, a symbol that transcends the boundaries of death.

The chapel, designed by architect Georges de Larabrie, is a neoclassical hexagonal structure featuring a statue of a grieving woman sculpted by Pierre Theunis.

It is said that this unique and extraordinarily poetic light display was not part of the original design...

This symbol of eternal love reminded me of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116:

"Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved."

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Laurence Olivier recites Sonnet 116