Chair of truth

he chair of truth is a magnificent work by Mechelen sculptor Marc De Vos (17th century) who lived and died in Brussels. The drawing of the chair is by architect Wenceslas Couberger. He was a painter, engineer and chemist as well as an architect, who was at the service of Archdukes Albert and Isabelle. The chair originates from the church of the Augustins, which was demolished to create the Place De Brouckère, a victim of postwar urban renewal in the capital, known as Brusselization.
The sounding board, supported by two angels, is decorated with a dove, symbolising the Holy Spirit. Under the pulpit is a Tetramorph, symbol of the four Evangelists:

• the eagle of Saint John, whose Gospel begins with the “Word became flesh” therefore already in heaven,
• the figure of Saint Matthew, because this gospel begins with the genealogy of Jesus,
• the bull of Saint Luke, because his story begins with the offering at the temple of Jerusalem,
• the lion of Saint Mark, because his Gospel begins with an evocation of the desert.

In addition, Saint Paul and Saint Augustine are represented by the books of Plato. They are followed by Saint Albert the Great and his student Saint Thomas Aquinas. The medallion is of the Virgin.
At the bottom of the staircase, the divine Word, symbolised by the Bible, bears an inscription referring to Ezekiel, Audite verbum Domini. It faces the Church, represented by the tiara worn by the popes.

A marble plaque on the column next to the pulpit recalls Paul Claudel. The French ambassador to Brussels from 1932 to 1935 meditated daily under this pulpit of truth while facing the cross under the choir vault. In his work “A poet looks at the cross”, referring to this ritual, he writes: “Around me, the stained glass windows are nothing more than a scattered diapure and as the day fades, they are a yellow and dead gaze. But with my head thrown back, from bottom to top, I look at my Lord, at the great crucifix that hangs from the vault….It is good here….. I have grabbed the horn of this ox in oak, which under the “pulpit of truth” (as they say in Belgium) is combined with the lion and the eagle and the angel, which represents the Third Evangelist…. I feel a sense of security in clinging to the horn of this solid animal…” I feel safe clinging to the horn of this sturdy animal…..