Eben-Ezer TowerRobert Garcet (1912 - 2001)

In 1930, at the age of eighteen, Robert Garcet moved from Mons, a city in southern Belgium, to work in the north-western silica quarries, in the Jeker area. By 1947 he had become a quarry owner.

Reflecting on the horrors of World War II, Garcet, a pacifist, began plans for a 100-foot-high tower that would symbolize humankind’s peaceful coexistence. In 1953, using silica as his building material, and with the occasional assistance of friends, he began building the Eben-Ezer Tower on his property.

Garcet designed the tower so its dimensions would correspond to ancient systems of measurement. All parts of the construction and its decorations are symbolic, including the four corners at the top of the tower, which are decorated with sculptures of figures represented in the New Testament’s Book of Revelation: a bull, a lion, an eagle, and an angel.

Beneath the tower is an underground area with a network of corridors, as would be found in an old quarry. To Garcet, this area represented a 70 million-year-old village, and in his tellling, its inhabitants sculpted silica stones into figures of people and animals.

The site is now administered by a foundation, and is open to the public. 

~Henk van Es

silica, stone

Rue du Val, 4690 be
Latitude/Longitude: 50.7760296 / 5.625032

View Larger Map in New Window