Amazing Belgium

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

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'

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.

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

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 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.

The Chatillon car graveyard

In the middle of a forest near Chatillon, a little village in Southern Belgium there is a graveyard of abandoned rusty, mostly American cars. Some of them date all the way back to the forties in the middle of the Second World War. These cars once belonged to US soldiers who were stationed in this region. It’s not known how they managed to buy these cars in the middle of the war. When the war ended, all military troops were sent back to the US, but the cost of having all those cars shipped to the US was way too expensive. So they decided to leave all the cars in Belgium. The cars were driven up a hill, one by one, parked and somehow hidden from the outside world. Later on, local people added their own old cars. Today some of the cars are still there, making the location a spooky graveyard of old rusty cars. At one point there was not one but four car graveyards around the village of Chatillon with as many as 500 vehicles. The ones that remain today are only a fraction of the origi

The oldest house of Antwerp

The now beautifully renovated building is situated in the Stoelstraat, right in the historic center of Antwerp, The three-quarter house with a distinctive wooden gable was built in 1500. It is the only original wooden house in the city that has stood the test of time. It survived six wars. Picture by Harry Fabel At that time the majority of the homes in the Antwerp city center were built in wood, but from 1546 onwards, the people of Antwerp decided to build their houses in stone to reduce the risk of blazing fires that could quickly spread among different houses. Picture by Harry Fabel Today the house can be rented as a short holiday stay for groups of up to 12 people. Staying in the house can be a unique experience.

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Amazing Belgium