Opsinjoorke
On Mechelen’s Grand Place, beneath the watchful St. Rumbold’s Tower, a wooden figure still flies through the air. Opsinjoorke is no saint or knight, but a playful symbol of justice and civic pride.
1 The Birth of a Wooden Sinner
In 1647, sculptor Valentyn van Lanscroon carved a wooden figure with exaggerated features: a drunkard, a brawler, a violent husband. The city shaped its moral judgement in wood.
During processions he was laid upon a cloth and thrown high into the air — a public rebuke without bloodshed, a lesson wrapped in spectacle.
2 The Fall of 1775
On 4 July 1775, the figure missed the cloth and fell into the crowd. A man from Antwerp, a “Sinjoor”, raised his arms to shield himself.
Mistaken for a thief, he was beaten and driven away. From that day on, the figure bore the name Opsinjoorke — “upon the Sinjoor” — an anecdote that endured for generations.
3 From Pillory to Icon
What began as social criticism became a symbol of Mechelen’s character. Opsinjoorke survived revolutions and occupations.
Today he is still tossed into the air, no longer as punishment but as tradition. A bronze statue captures him mid-flight on the Grand Place.
4 What the Air Remembers
His flight once proclaimed communal morality. Over time, rebuke turned to folklore, and folklore to heritage.
When the bells ring over Mechelen, it seems the city still recalls his soaring arc. Opsinjoorke always falls — yet he is always caught again.
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