The statue of Our Lady of Flanders is 2.75m high and was made of white marble in 1846. The artwork is by Jan-Baptist De Cuyper (1807-1852). The statue shows the crowned Mary with Jesus in her left arm. To the left of Our Lady are depicted the Flemish lion and the Flemish shield. Over the years, many replicas have been made in all sorts of sizes and colours.
The statue was donated by Jonkvrouw Adelaïde d’Hane de Steenhuyse-de Potter (1803-1844) before her death, and in 1860 it was placed in the Jesuit church in Posteernestraat, Ghent. On 9 May of that year, the statue of Mary was crowned with the permission of Pope Pius IX (Pope from 1846 to 1878). The artwork is the oldest crowned statue of Mary in Flanders. In 1956, the statue was moved to the church of the Sint-Barbaracollege at Savaanstraat 33 in Ghent.
On 9 May 1861, exactly one year after the coronation, the Notables of Ghent presented a petition to the bishop to name the statue “Notre-Dame de Flandre”. This request was honoured. In 1892, the statue received the name “Our Lady of Flanders” with an official ecclesiastical status.
Since 2001, the feast day of Our Lady of Flanders has been 9 May.
At the request of Father Jozef Asters (1850-1913) of the Jesuits of Ghent, a Marian song was created in 1910. This was on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the papal coronation of the statue of Our Lady of Flanders on 9 May 1860. The song was titled “Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van Vlaanderen” (Our Lady of Flanders) and the lyrics were by priest August Cuppens (1862-1924). The Flemish composer and conductor Lodewijk de Vocht (1887-1977) provided the music. The song brings together Flemish sentiment and Marian devotion, and became a major “religious hit”. Part of the lyrics read:
“Love gave you a thousand names.
Great and noble, beautiful and sweet.
But none which the hearts of the Flemings
It's nice to be happy for a bit.
O Mother Virgin
The one who wears you in our small country.
He sounds better than all the others
Our Lady of Flanders.
