Just a few steps from the cathedral entrance, almost level with the ground, a sculpture shows a boy and a dog curled up together beneath a blanket of stone.
The story behind the statue is one of the most tender in all of literature. Nello was a poor orphan living in a village just outside Antwerp, and Patrasche was a working dog he rescued from cruelty. The two became inseparable, wandering this city together, drawn above all to Rubens' great paintings inside the cathedral right behind you. Nello dreamed of becoming an artist, but poverty and misfortune closed every door. On Christmas Eve, the two found shelter inside the cathedral. The next morning they were discovered there together, lifeless and at peace.
Published in 1872, the novel barely caused a ripple in Belgium. But in Japan and Korea it became a cultural landmark, beloved across generations through films and animated series. Thousands of visitors have made the journey to Antwerp specifically because of that story.
Sources. Photos: APK, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
