On the Mozartpleintje, between ‘De Tinnen Schotel’ and the Tienen library, stands the Pikke Stijkès statue. Pikke was a gamèè, or rascal, from Tienen who was the main character in the three books that Léon Rubbens wrote in our own refined, standard Tienen dialect.
Léon Rubbens from Tienen was a teacher at the Catholic Normal School (Katholieke Normaalschool). Notwithstanding the fact that he was very active as a musician, he remained nobly unknown throughout all of Tienen. Until one evening when he paid a visit to the dentist, Kamiel Moens, and came up with the idea to write a “Tiense Witte” ("De Witte" is a novel by the Flemisch writer Ernest Claes). He published three novels, in 1952, 1958 and 1980, featuring Pikke Stijkès as the main character.
Now, the identity of the person who was the inspiration for Pikke and whether or not he actually existed continue to be fodder for the rumour mill. Rubbens himself has always said that the creation of the main character in his three novels was inspired by "an exceptionally clever and sharp little fellow, who was also a cunning and vexatious little rascal" (“een biezonder verstandig en vinnig kereltje, maar ook een doortrapte kwelzieke rakker”). ‘Pikke’ is the Tienen variant of the name Pierre. And a ‘Stijkès’ is a stickleback.
Léon Rubbens truly brought the adventures of Pikke to life. His birthday is known to be 25 December 1898. On the occasion of Pikke's 100th birthday, in 1998, het Kommetéét va Pikke Stijkès (the Pikke Stijkès Committee) unveiled this statue by the artist Ivan Struys. The writer Léon Rubbens did not survive to see the unveiling of the statue of his brainchild. He passed away in 1981 at the age of 80...
