BELGIUM - Blog

Father Damian

5/29/2019

Brother of lepers, missionary who devoted his life to serving the needy

Father Damien, or rather Jozef de Veuster, is an extraordinary man whose life's work was helping the lepers. He was born on 3 January 1840 year in the Belgian town Tremelo as one of seven siblings. Like his older brother and sister, he joined the convent. He chose the most difficult path to holiness. A path full of sacrifices and risks. The desire to serve the needy led him to the kingdom of Hawaii, and more precisely to the island of Moloka'i, which was a home-place of seclusion- for patients infected with leprosy, then an incurable disease.

He started his mission on 10 may 1873 year coming to the Kalaupapa settlement, inhabited by 600 lepers. Building new homes, schools, churches, and hospitals gave the inhabitants hope. He became their confidant and priest, sometimes a nurse, doctor or gravedigger. His mission, which lasted in 1873-1889, ended his death. In recent years he has been helping, although he was already infected. He died on 15 April 1889 year among friends, calm about the fact that his work would be continued by the Franciscan nuns who came to the island.

His work echoed widely in the world. The sacrifice with which he served the sick was something special. On 4 June 1995 year, father Damian was beatified by the Holy Father John Paul II. 11 October a guide 2009 Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed him a Saint. Grave brother of lepers, how often Damian's father was called, he is in the crypt, under the chapel of St. Antoni, in the Belgian city of Leuven.

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Citadel in Namur

5/18/2019

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Citadel in Namur

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is a great example of mastery of military architecture. This one of the greatest citadel in Europe has a diversity that evokes the era from the Middle Ages to the 20th century.

Terra Nova

The first fortifications were built here by the Celts, the next by the Romans. In the 937 year, the Namur Count replaced the Roman ruins with wooden fortifications. The stone castle was built in 1235-1245, then, in the fourteenth century, it was expanded.

Citadel received the present form in 1631-1675 during the reign of the Dutch. This part of the fortress has been named Terra Nova to distinguish it from the smaller fort built in the neighborhood La Médiane, which was built in 1542-1555 during the reign of Emperor Charles V.

In the 1692 year, the citadel was taken by the French. It was then that Sebastian Vauban, a French military engineer and architect at the court of the French King Louis XIV, rebuilt the citadel in Namur, making it one of the most powerful fortresses in Europe. The twilight of the citadel's power came during the First World War, when it took a few days for the Germans to get it. During the Second World War, the fortress was seriously damaged as a result of bombing. A parachute unit was stationed here until the 1977 year.

The citadel built on the 10 hectares has been recognized as the unique heritage of Wallonia. This magnificent building dominates the Port du Grognon, the place where the rivers Meuse and Sambra meet, and where there is a statue of King Albert I on a horse. This king, valued by the Belgians, died while climbing the rock of the Grand Bon Dieu, near Marches-les-Dames on the Meuse River.

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Shrine in Banneux

3/15/2019

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Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Poor
In Banneux

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The shrine in the small Banneux, located about 20 kilometers from Liege, is one of the main places of worship in Belgium. It was here that Our Lady appeared to eleven-year-old Mariette Beco eight times. Revelations lasted from 15 January to 2 March 1933 year.

During the apparitions, Our Lady always presented herself as the Mother of the Poor and asked her to build a chapel in this place. The Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Poor is a place of pilgrimage of hundreds of thousands of people who come here to confide in the Mother of God with their suffering, pain and desires.

On the walls of the chapel and in several places in the sanctuary there are tables, on which the faithful express, in many languages, thanks to Our Lady for intercession and healing. In the 1949 year, the Vatican recognized the revelations at Banneux. John Paul II ended here his pilgrimage in the Benelux countries, which he held in 1985 year.

In the Banneux Sanctuary there are: the Chapel of the Apparitions, the Chapel of the Mission, the Church of the Virgin of Poor, the Chapel of St. Michael the Archangel, the Way of the Cross, the belfry of Konrad Adenauer and, in the place of the apparitions of the Holy Mother, a wonderful spring. The Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Poor is surrounded by a beautiful landscape park.

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Contemporary Architecture In Liege

2/24/2019

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Paradis Tower

Mostly, historic, beautiful buildings are replaced by modern, ugly concrete constructions. There are glorious exceptions as in the case of the building being the seat of the Ministry of Finance. His victim was a beautiful, over a hundred-year old tenement house that had to give way to the skyscraper that is today, together with the Guillemans station, a great example of modern architecture.

95 million Euro construction cost

118 height meters

27 floors

These two buildings are an example that contemporary architecture, thanks to its beauty, can add glamor to the city. The Guillemans station is already considered the most beautiful, next to the station in Antwerp, in Belgium, maybe this skyscraper will also be awe-inspiring. May it be possible to build such great structures in the future, but without destructionofiarhistorical buildings.

Interestingly, the building is not owned by the Ministry of Finance. It only rents offices from a private investor (Fedimmo Company) for a period of 25 years. After this time, the Ministry will have the right of first refusal. The whole project is the work of the Jasper & Eyers Architecture architectural office in cooperation with Greisch. Paradis Tower is the tallest building in all of Wallonia.

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River port in Liege

2/17/2019

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Inland navigation, river port in Liege

Photo http://www.portdeliege.be

Situated 230 kilometers from the North Sea coast, Liege is the largest inland port in Belgium and the third largest in Europe (21 million tons in 2017 year) after Paris and Duisburg. This port, created in the 1937 year, provides a logistics base for the largest seaports of Europe.

Port Liege is not a compact object. It covers an area of 370 hectares, and it comprises 32 port areas scattered along the river Meuse and Albert Canal. Its main advantage is the excellent location in the center of the world's largest navigable network: the Rhine-Schelde-Meuse basin (20 000 km). Thanks to this, it offers easy access to the main ports of Europe:

Port of Antwerp (129 km) through the Albert Canal (immersion 3,40 m) - travel time 14 h.
Port of Roterdam (250 km) through the Julian Canal (immersion 2,80 m) and Meuse - travel time 24 h.
Dunkirk port through the east-west corridor - travel time 48 h.

The recent opening of the Rhine-Main-Danube route enabled vessels to travel through the West European network, making it easier for ship owners to access Eastern Europe.

An additional advantage of the Port of Liege is the proximity of the widely developed road and rail network as well as the eighth largest freight airport in Europe. Port Liege is ideal for loading, unloading and storing a wide range of goods: building materials, ores, bulk goods, chemicals, steel, and recently, thanks to the development of three-modal logistics, also containers.

Annually, the Liege port reloads 60 thousands of containers. Current investments are aimed at achieving the level of 200 thous. containers. One barge transports 106 or 156 containers. The success of river transport contributes to reducing the number of vans on the roads. 16 million tons of goods transported on the barges corresponds to the tonnage transported by 800 thous. vans.

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Museum of beguines-Dendermonde

1/5/2019

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1288-Foundation of the Beguinage of St. Alexius in Dendermonde.
1975-Dies Ernestine de Bruyne, the last beguine of Dendermonde.

These two dates mark the beginning and end of the beguines congregation in this city. They are a clasp linking the eighth centuries of this extremely interesting religious congregation, cultivating the Catholic faith, but completely independent of the Catholic Church.

The beguines lived here, as in other Beguinages, among others from the production of lace, teaching, care for the sick. They vow cleanliness and obedience, but not poverty. About 200 beguines lived in the Beguinage.

1998-Beguinage is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Nowadays, the beguinage is inhabited by the inhabitants of Dendermonde. There are 61 houses here that surround, a small church built in the middle. Despite being included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, the Beguinage is not fully renovated yet. Dendermonde is a small town and due to the lack of resources, renewal is slow. Visiting the city, however, you can not skip this place, a great witness to history. An additional attraction is the unusual museum of the Beguinage.

The Beguinage Museum in Dendermonde

It is located in the house where lived Ernestine de Bruyne, the last beguine of Dendermonde (No. 25 H. Begga). In the same building there is also a museum of folklore. In many rooms, on three floors you can get to know the everyday life of the Dendermonde residents. The building No. 11 (H. Bonifacius) was decorated just like an authentic beguines home. It is extraordinary that this interesting museum can be visited for free. It is worth coming here to learn about the history of the beguines congregation and to visit their home, which was the beguinage.

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Wijers view

11/23/2018

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In addition to the magnificent open-air museum, Bokrijk also offers kilometers of cycle routes situated in beautiful, forested surroundings. One of the main attractions here is the path leading through the middle of the lake. Great experience, when you can be in the middle of the basin and still be dry, admire the surrounding nature from the level of the lake or stay face to face with proud swans swimming here.

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museum aan de ijzer

11/15/2018

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M
AT
IJ WITH E R
E
    AT
   M

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The original tower was built in the year 1930 as a war memorial dedicated to the soldiers who died on the West-Flemish front during the First World War. For many years the tower was considered a symbol of Flemish nationalists. In 1946, it was blown up in unexplained circumstances.

In the 1965 year, after 13 years, the construction of a new, magnificent monument was completed. The 84-meters tower, the highest monument of peace in Europe, houses an interesting museum (War, Peace, Flemish emancipation). Many war exhibits, such as weapons or uniforms, were gathered on the 22 floors. Historical photos show the suffering of soldiers and civilians. Visiting the museum begins with entering the top of the building. From its terrace there is a wonderful view of the whole region from Nieuwpoort to Passchendaele, Ypres, Poperinge and Ploegsteert.

Tower located along the Yser River in Diksmuide is decorated with the letters AVV-VVK (All for Flanders-Flanders for Christ), before the entrance there is an inscription No more war. The museum's motto is: What remains of life ?. What remains of the land?.

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Bokrijk - A journey in time

11/9/2018

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If you want to go back to the past, I invite you to Bokrijk, a magnificent open-air museum where you can teleport to the years 60 or even earlier, until the 19th century. If you have more than 50 years You will remind yourself of your youth here, and if you are younger, you will find out how your parents and grandparents lived. You will probably experience a shock that they could live without cell phones or Wi-Fi. When you move from the 1960s to the nineteenth century, you will understand how a great technological leap made humanity in the 20th century.

Years 60

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* Landing on the moon

* Prevalence of colored television

* Establishment of the Internet

* Washing machines, refrigerators, gas stoves, as well as mixers, coffee makers and adapters appear in houses

XIX century

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Groeninge Museum In Bruges

11/1/2018

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The international renown of the Groeningemuseum is caused not only by an exceptional permanent collection, but also by the organization of prestigious temporary exhibitions, which take place here regularly.

The building in which this magnificent museum is located was designed in the year 1930 by Joseph Vierin.
The museum offers rich collections of works of Belgian artists. What attracts a lot of visitors is undoubtedly the world-famous collection of Flemish primitives, such as: Jan van Eyck, Hans Memling, Hugo van der Goes, or Gerard David.

There are also paintings by Renaissance and Baroque artists, a dozen works from neoclassical times and realism, the most important works of symbolists and modernists, outstanding works of Flemish expressionists such as Permeke, De Smet, Van den Berhge, Brusselmans or Tygat, and a wide selection of modern art (after 1945 year).

Francois-Joseph Navez. Portrait of Theodor-Joseph and his two daughters.

Rik Wouters. Picture of a man with a pipe, sculptor Ernest Wijnants

Jan Van Eyck, Portrait of Małgorzata van Eyck

Frans Pourbus I, Portrait of Theodor de Beze

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Flemish primitivists

10/20/2018

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Flemish primitivists

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a term used in art history to describe pre-Renaissance and early Renaissance painting of the 15th and early 16th centuries. This common name of Flemish painters, in Polish language, it can be hurting, because whether primitive, in the Polish sense of the word, would be able to create such paintings as those painted by Jan Van Eyck, Hieronymus Bosch or other geniuses of painting ?.

They are also the creators of the Renaissance of the North, which is an outstanding version of the Renaissance, which was born on the other side of the Alps, in Italy. Robert Campin is a forerunner of this style in then Netherlands and his most eminent representatives were, among others:

* Jan van Eyck (1390-1441)
* Rogier van der Weyden (1400-1464)
* Petrus Christus (1410-1476)
* Hans Memling (1435-1494)
* Hugo van der Goes (1440-1482)
* Hieronim Bosch (1450-1516)
* Gerard David (1460-1532)

Jan van Eyck as one of the few in those times signed images with his name and motto:

Als ick kann (As I can)

It is believed that this brilliant creator of such works as: The altar of the Mystical Lamb, Portrait of the Arnolfini couple, Madonna Chancellor Rolin whether The Madonna of canon van der Paele, as one of the first European painters of the 15th century, who began to use oil technique in his paintings. It guaranteed the effect of brightness, because oil binders shine more intensely than the matt temer used in the past. In oil technique, the paint is mixed with the oil directly on the pallet, and then applied to the canvas with a brush or putty knife.

In Dutch painting of this period religious themes dominate. The background plays a very important role, filled with vast landscapes, architecture and city views. You can see the extraordinary attention to detail when presenting the interiors of houses, clothes of figures, fabrics, animals. The basic feature of the background is the far-reaching autonomy, spatiality and naturalism of individual elements and characters placed on further planes, even when the background figure is visible in a small fragment.

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belle époque in de hann architecture

10/13/2018

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De Hann (fr. Le Coq)

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is the most beautiful resort, on the 64-kilometer coastal belt belonging to Belgium, with the climate of charming villas belle époque.

An epoch in which Art. Nouveau was the dominating style in architecture. Its main features are decorativeness, stylization, asymmetry, which manifested itself, inter alia, in the free distribution of windows, as well as in the location of the gate, which was usually located centrally, on the main axis of the building.

The buildings were given smooth, wavy lines, horseshoe or flattened arches placed above the windows, the balconies were semicircular in shape, the whole was complemented by corrugated cornices, free compositional arrangements, pastel colors, liking for floral motifs, and a significant extension of the range of materials used to make façades.

The buildings that are great examples of belle époque can be found in De Hann a lot. A small tram station, the Grand Hotel Belle Vue, to which often came for a cup of tea Albert Einstein, during his stay in Flanders, after escaping from Nazi Germany, city hall and many private villas or hotels.

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Vladslo-cemetery of the defeated

9/12/2018

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German war cemetery Vladslo

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located about three kilometers from the village of Vladslo, near Diksmuide in Belgium, is the resting place of German soldiers who died in the First World War.

At the end of World War I, there were 678 German war cemeteries in Belgium on which 134 thousands of soldiers were buried. In 1925, their number was reduced to 128, ultimately by virtue of the international agreement of 1954, all graves of German soldiers could be moved to four cemeteries, located in Hooglede, Langemark, Menen and Vladslo.

The Vladslo cemetery, on which 25645 German soldiers were buried, clearly contrasts with the English and American cemeteries. There is no pride of heroes, sublime slogans, you can see that it is a cemetery of the defeated. Dark stone slabs with engraved names, surnames, military ranks and dates of death of twenty soldiers on each one.

In addition, the gloomy mood is heightened by the sculpture of grieving parents by Käthe Kollwitz, the famous German sculptor whose youngest son, Peter, was killed near Diksmuide 23 October of the 1914 year. This sculpture symbolizes the pain and suffering of all parents who lost their children in the war. In one of the graves opposite the monument, Peter Kollwitz was buried.

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1914-1918

8/29/2018

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1914-1918
THE TRENCHES OF DEATH

In Diksmuide, a small town located in northwestern Belgium, you can visit the last part of the Belgian fortification system from the First World War. The city, like Ypres, was almost completely destroyed during the war, when it was on the front line.

The trenches of death were located along the Ijzer River, only 100 meters from the enemy trenches. Today, these several hundred meters of fortifications remind us of the horrors of war, hardened hundred-year-old sacks of sand, securing narrow trenches, marking the place in which Belgian soldiers lived and died for four years.

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Known only to GOD-heroes fell on foreign land

8/26/2018

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1941-1945
IN PROUD REMEMBRANCE OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF HER SONS
AND IN HUMBLE TRIBUTE TO THEIR SACRIFICE THIS MEMORIAL HES BEEN ERECTED BY
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

American War Cemetery, so-called Adrennes, arose 8 February 1945 year. Designed mainly for the burial place of soldiers from the 1 US Army who died in Belgium. There are also soldiers who died in the battle of Aachen, those who died during the so-called Battle of the Bulge and American airmen were shot down over Germany. The total area of the cemetery is around 36,5 ha. The government of Belgium, in gratitude for the liberation of the country, granted the US the use of this area for all time.

5328
American soldiers rest in this cemetery.

792
never identified

11
siblings are buried in the cemetery. In nine cases, they lie side by side in graves next to each other.

462
the names of the fallen soldiers, whose bodies were never found, were engraved on twelve tables of granite, placed on the western and eastern side of the memorial.

Works on the monument and the cemetery were completed on 11 June 1960 year. On the south side of the sanctuary there is a five-meter-high sculpture depicting the American Eagle and three figures symbolizing Justice, Freedom and Truth. Thirteen stars symbolize the founding states of the USA.

The interior walls were decorated with three impressive maps, made of marble mosaic, in eighteen colors. They depict warfare, from the Battle of the Bulge, landing in Normandy to the final victory in May 1945 of the year.

Statue youth presenting a young soldier holding a sword and a laurel wreath reminds us that the buried here died in the greatest period of their lives. They all embody the importance of sacrifice.

In the cemetery there are graves of two soldiers honored with the highest decoration in the US Army, the Medal of Honor. The first is Sergeant Charles F. Carey, Jr., the other Major John L. Jerstad.

Captain Darrell R. Lindsey has also been awarded this medal, unfortunately his body has never been found and his name is on one of twelve dark tile plaques on which the names of soldiers who were missing in the campaign were engraved.

In several graves, the bodies of two soldiers were laid. In such cases the sentence was engraved on the crosses HERE REST IN HONORED GLORY TWO COMRADES IN ARMS at the foot of the cross there is a bronze plaque with the names and surnames of the fallen.