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Showing posts with the label History

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Adrien de Gerlache: Belgium's Antarctic Pioneer

Posted by Harry fabel

Famous Belgians History

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The Turbulent History of the Ghent Altarpiece: A Masterpiece Tested by Time

Posted by Harry fabel

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The Solitary Spire: Antwerp Cathedral's Unfinished Symphony

Posted by Harry fabel

Antwerp Churches History

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Rubens: The Master of Movement and Majesty

Posted by Harry fabel

Antwerp Famous Belgians History

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Step Into a Glass Wonderland: Exploring the Royal Greenhouses of Laeken, Belgium

Posted by Harry fabel

Brussels History Museums

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The Vleeshuis Museum: From Butcher's Hall to Musical Haven

Posted by Harry fabel

Antwerp History Museums

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Discovering Bruges' Last Four Windmills

Posted by Harry fabel

Bruges History Mills

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Driving Innovation: The Belgian Heritage and Automotive Legacy of Henry Ford

Posted by Harry fabel

Belgian inventors History

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Unveiling the Remarkable Story of the Belgian Azalea

Posted by Harry fabel

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Willy De Bruyn: A Trailblazer in Transgender Sports History

Posted by Harry fabel

Brussels Famous Belgians History

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A Belgian machine builder is the real inventor of the revolutionary Wankel engine

Posted by Harry fabel

Belgian inventors History

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An unknown gem in Antwerp: a historic building from the 16th century

Posted by Harry fabel

Antwerp History Museums

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This library could be straight out of a Harry Potter movie

Posted by Harry fabel

Antwerp History Museums

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The history of Antwerp

Posted by Harry fabel

Antwerp History Legends

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The history of Manneken Pis in Brussels

Posted by Harry fabel

Brussels History

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Discover the evolution of the computer in Namur

Posted by Harry fabel

Belgian inventors History Museums Namur

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The Apparition of the Virgin Mary in Beauraing

Posted by Harry fabel

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How a historical building in Antwerp got completely desecrated

Posted by Harry fabel

Antwerp History Typically Belgian

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The national holiday of Belgium

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The birthplace of the Belgian flag

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Brussels History

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The castle that became famous in Hollywood

Belgium has a lot of castles, actually, it has the most castles of all European countries. They come in all shapes and sizes. But there is one castle that strikes every imagination, castle Nottebohm. Located in the north of Antwerp, in the village of Brecht, this remarkable building seems to be escaped from some fantastic Hollywood movie or even more a Pixar animation cartoon. The design of the house is done in a very strange way, in an eclectic style incorporating elements from the neo-Flemish Renaissance, the traditional brick and sandstone style, and the cottage style, all combined. Architect Ernest Pilgrims draw the plans for the castle. It was built in 1834 by the family Nottebohm as a summerhouse. The family used it till 1943 when the German army occupied it in the Second World War. After the war, the family didn't use it a lot anymore and in 1950 they rented the castle as a hotel and restaurant. Later the company who rented the castle went broke and the family had the plan

Nearly 80 percent of the world's billiard balls are made in Belgium

Belgium is the world's leading producer and exporter of billiard and snooker balls. The company Saluc, established in 1923, is located in Callenelle, Péruwelz in the Belgian province of Hainaut. Picture by Pixabay Around 1960, the company started to specialize in billiard balls. The most widely used material is a phenolic resin. SA Saluc also produces other, more industrial balls for all kinds of purposes. Chances are that the ball inside your computer mouse is also made by Saluc. The company is active in more than 85 countries, it also makes various types of bowling balls. Saluc has its own chemical plant to make the phenolic resin formula, which gives Aramith balls their characteristic high-gloss, rock-hard finish.

Belgian kids got to drink beer during their school lunch

There are almost 800 different kinds of beer in Belgium. One kind was very popular till the70's, it was even given to kids at school during their lunch break. Beer to kids? You must be kidding! Well, let's go a bit further into this. The beers we are talking about were so-called table beers, a kind of beer that was specially made for people who can't drink alcohol. So it's was a kind of alcohol-free beer, a kind, because there was some alcohol in it. between 1 and 4 percent alcohol. The most popular table beer was Piedboeuf, it had 1.1 percent alcohol in it and there was a lot of sugar added to make it as sweet as Coca-Cola. A good marketing strategy made that it was well distributed in almost all schools in Belgium. The reason was that it would be very healthy for them, because of the natural ingredients and of course the sugar. It would make them grow fast and strong. It would even be good for pregnant women and for women that were breastfeeding their baby'

How the Belgians founded New York

In order to avoid any confusion in this story, it is important to know that in the sixteenth century, the Netherlands covered a part of northern France and Lorraine, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the present Netherlands. Its inhabitants were called the Belgians, and the maps represented the country in the shape of a lion: the "Leo Belgicus". Besides, numerous maps from the sixteenth century showed this territory under the name of Belgium. The latter failed into disuse for the benefit of the Netherlands and only reappeared in 1789 on the occasion of the first Belgian revolution. In 1831 Belgium became an independent country. Today Belgium is a lot smaller and is divided into two big regions mostly based on the language they speak in that particular region. In the north, there is Flanders where they speak Flemish (Dutch) and in the south, there is the Walloon part where they speak French. Almost in the center and between the two parts is the region of the capital Brussels

The giant jewel beetle of Leuven

A 23-meter high needle adorns a giant jewel beetle, pinned against the clouds in front of the university library of Leuven. The artwork of the Beatle is made by Jan Fabre, a world-famous Belgian multidisciplinary artist. The jewel beetle artwork that goes under the name of Totem is a gift from the university to the city, on the occasion of its 575th anniversary. The university wanted long-lasting quality and invited the artist in 2000 to design the concept. Jan Fabre got a wild card for the design. He found the ideas in drawings he made years ago. During a walk through the city, Jan Fabre ruled that the Ladeuzeplein was the best place for the giant jewel beetle. Jan Fabre explains his concept: The beetle is the memory of nature, a kind of senior computer world, a radar of human existence. The total work of art refers to a collection, a collection of insects pinpricks pricked and reversed. Importantly, the relationship with the university: collective memory of man, a bui

The largest chocolate factory in the world

The largest chocolate factory in the world is located in Wieze, Belgium. Barry Callebaut produces around 270,000 tonnes a year, from cocoa beans to chocolate, making it the largest chocolate supplier in the world. Picture by Pixabay In Wieze you will also find the first of the seventeen Chocolate Academy centers that have since been distributed all over the world. A completely new building was recently opened, making the Chocolate Academy Center in Wieze the largest center in the world. Picture by Pixabay The Belgian chocolate sector exports its quality chocolate to the entire world. Two-thirds of both the industrial chocolate and the end products are exported abroad. That's because there is a Belgian chocolate code developed in 2007. The Belgian chocolate code must ensure that the term 'Belgian chocolate' is only used for chocolate that actually comes from Belgium.

The Enigmatic Art of René Magritte: Master of Surrealism

René Magritte, a Belgian artist born in 1898, stands as a giant in the world of Surrealism. He is best known for his thought-provoking paintings that challenge our perception of reality and play with everyday objects in unexpected ways. A Life Marked by Loss and Inspiration: Magritte's early life was marked by a tragic event – his mother's suicide when he was only 14. This experience, he later confided, influenced his artistic vision, particularly his fascination with the hidden and the mysterious. Despite the challenges, Magritte pursued his artistic passion, attending the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels. A Master of the Unexpected: Magritte embraced the Surrealist movement, known for its exploration of the subconscious and dreamlike states. His paintings, often meticulously detailed, featured ordinary objects placed in extraordinary contexts. Think of bowler hats obscuring faces, apples filling rooms, or giant birds soaring through the sky. These juxtapositions forc

The belfry dragon of Ghent

The legend says that the gilded dragon first featured on the prow of the ship which the Norwegian king Sigrid Magnusson left with on a crusade in 1111. He offered the statue to the emperor of Constantinople (the current Istanbul) to put on the cupola of the Aya Sophia. Some hundred years later, the Flemish count Baldwin IX had the showpiece transported to the Flemish region. Here, the Norwegian dragon ended up in the hands of the people of Bruges. After the battle on the field of Beverhout in 1382, the inhabitants of Ghent took the dragon as a war trophy and put it on top of their Belfry. At that time in the Belfry, all the communal charters and laws were kept. The dragon had to protect these documents and it became also the symbol of the freedom and power of the city. Over the year the dragon is replaced with different versions, some of them are still kept inside the belfry museum and there is still a proud dragon on top of the Belfry tower.

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