European Travel Blog » Belgium

Brussels’ Manuscripts in Stone and The Churches

admin — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 08:57:58 +0000

Chances are that some time during your stay in Brussels, the messages on your answering machine will include an unexpected announcement of the imminent arrival of an old friend, who would like you to show him whatever there is of interest in Brussels.

This is the time to consider churches, particularly St. Nicholas, at the edge of the Gran’ Place, and the nearby Our Lady of the Sablon.

St. Nicholas is a small Romanesque parish church

A Christmas tree that’s left up all year round? Yes. It is part of an old tradition from the Middle Ages to visually remind the faithful of the complete calendar of Christ: nativity, childhood, adulthood, mission, death, and resurrection. Take a close look at the crèche. All the people portrayed are portraits, including Leonardo da Vinci capturing the moment on canvas. There is the local fisherman and his wife; a baker; a chimneysweep; an innkeeper and patrons; and a performer on a tightrope. In the background, you have Brussels as you might see it from St. Nicholas, with the towers of the Grand’ Place and Our Lady of the Sablon as part of the skyline. Thus, a visit to a small Romanesque church at the outer edge of the Grand’ Place give you a picture of historic Brussels.

Our Lady of the Sablon was part of the St. Nicholas crèche. Why? Historically, we have many pictures of Brussels’s Lady Church, beginning with a picture in a book of hours, which shows the church under construction. If you want to see that picture, you may find it in the nearby Beaux-Arts Museum.

Since the late 14th century, the church was supported by the ruling family, nobles, and powerful guilds of Brussels. The way to tell that the church was supported by powerful people is in both the style, Gothic, and the fact that there are relics from the region still in the church.

On entering the church, one is stuck by the wonderful stained-glass windows. Don’t be fooled into thinking that the windows are part of the medieval charm of the church. Most of the windows date from the late 19th and early 20th century, a time when the Middle Ages were quite fashionable. Look closely at the people in the windows: they are rounded, cleaner, and more secular.

All of the key items of interest are clearly marked in English, French, German, and Flemish throughout the church. On entering the little cathedral, you will be greeted by the cool darkness of the interior, the smells of beeswax and incense, and music. There is a mix of Gothic, Baroque, Neogothic, and contemporary art, indicating the continuing interest and involvement of the community.

Both churches are guides to the present and past communities of Brussels. When there was money, then-fashionable art was donated; when money was short, then the churches endured along with the parish. In both instances, the churches are long-standing members of the community and Brussels’ skyline. In both you can see the mark of lengthy involvement over centuries, which makes them wonderful manuscripts in stone.

just off the Grand’ Place. It is almost obscured by the storefront shops that use the outer wall of the church as a backwall for the shops. Fitting, because it was originally a church built by Russian merchants in the 12th century. Close ties to the local community are apparent in the mix of elegant stone and contemporary notices. The clearest connection is found in the crèche that is created once a year by parish artists.

This essay originally appeared in the Brussels Weekly, a publication of the US Tri-Missions in Brussels.

Antwerp – DELIGHTS THE TASTE BUDS

admin — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 08:55:42 +0000

Eating and drinking is a real delight here. Take your time and enjoy it! There are restaurants by the hundred. From refined gastronomy, to exotic cuisine or ‘grandmother’s cooking’, it’s all here. And, of course, we mustn’t forget the famous mussels with Belgian fries The cafes are far too numerous to count and yet each has an atmosphere all of its own. They all offer an impressive list of beers to choose from, but if you want to try the only true Antwerp beer, order a ‘bolleke’ in customary cafe jargon. Some cafes have hundreds of different beer brands. The Kulminator cafe has 450 Belgian and 250 foreign beers for your taste! There is plenty for those with a sweet tooth, too! You’ll find delicious ‘Antwerpse handjes’ (Antwerp hands) at the baker’s and the best pralines you’ve ever tasted.

The imposing Meir and the De Keyserlei link the medieval and the 19th-century areas of the city center. These wide shopping streets and pedestrian areas are lined with department stores, trendy boutiques and chic fashion shops. The Sunday bird market is famous far beyond our borders, partly because it sells absolutely everything but mainly because of the way goods are presented and sold.

Collectors of knick-knacks, collectibles and curios can go treasure-hunting in the little shops along the Hoogstraat and the Kloosterstraat or visit the Saturday market near the Cathedral. With a little luck, they will find something that catches their eye amongst the bric-a-brac at the Friday market. Those looking for valuable antiques or objets d’art will stand a better chance in the Leopoldstraat and Schuttershofstraat area

Describing Antwerp metropolis

admin — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 08:52:52 +0000

Describing my city is rather an impossible task. Antwerp has so many aspects that mentioning a few of them would do injustice to all the others. So, the only thing we can say is: come and experience the breath of the city that is one of the biggest ports in the world; the world capital of diamonds; the home town of Rubens, Van Dyck and many other world-famous painters, the city of Plantijn, who made printing an art. A place housing more than hundred nationalities, with the highest concentration of polyglots in the world, with the countless restaurants, pubs, beers, discos and cafe terraces, with its medieval heart, its rich cultural heritage. A place where doing business is always combined with the finest gastronomy and wit.

A proud and free city but tolerant, cosmopolitan and a little bit exotic and whose inhabitants (the "Sinjoren", from the Spanish senores) know better than any other people what Burgundian lifestyle really means. Antwerp is a melting pot of cultures, a hospitable and safe haven. Over the centuries the City-on-the-Scheldt has turned the ‘sinjoren’ into cosmopolitans. This is wonderful if you are a visitor. You will always meet with a friendly reception and, if at all possible, in your own language.

Antwerp is a metropolis and yet small-scale. That is undoubtedly one of its charms. So put on your walking shoes and start exploring. This town on the Scheldt is a real metropolis which welcomes merchants, businessmen, artists and travelers from all over the world. Spaniards, Jews, Greeks, Turks, Russians, Dutchmen, Germans, Chinese, Indians and Americans, to name but a few, are represented among the more than 135 nationalities which are at home in this world city. They have their own clubs, centers, and religious institutions, which go towards making Antwerp into a cosmopolitan region of which the appearance and way of life have rightly been described as the most southern in Northern Europe. Attracted because every encouragement was given to foreigners, thinkers, dreamers, builders and the active have settled here.

A port of world stature, a history of unusual freedom, a treasure chest of art, architecture, learning and music, Antwerp lends itself to exploration. With the exception of Brussels, Antwerp, with its half million inhabitants is the largest city in Belgium and is, moreover, at the center of a metropolitan area of 1,150,000 inhabitants. Nevertheless Antwerp is intimate: a web of squares and winding streets, of shops and art galleries, of churches and statues, warehouses and wharves, it presents corners to be turned, alleys to be penetrated and the bustle of resilient, confident townspeople to be enjoyed.

The Jugendstil area around the Cogels-Osylei is world famous. And in recent years, daring examples of modern architecture have appeared here and there.

Antwerp is the diamond in the Flemish crown

admin — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 08:19:28 +0000

In more than one way Antwerp is the diamond in the Flemish crown. Apart from the gothic splendors of the Cathedral of Our Lady, dating back to the fourteenth century, whose 123m spire dominates the skyline, the city is the diamond center of the world. Grouped around the Pelikaanstraat are innumerable shops, their windows glistening with gems and gold. Many of the proprietors are orthodox Jews whose traditions give an individual character to "the Jerusalem of the North". You can also take an organized trip round the Provincial Diamond Museum.

Antwerp was the home of Rubens, and his "princely" house and workshop containing many canvasses can still be seen and admired. More of his work can be appreciated in the cathedral, especially his magnificent "Crucifixion and Descent from the Cross".

Art abounds in Antwerp and after sauntering past its renaissance-style terraces in the Grote Markt, or investigating its pubs and cafes you may like to visit the Royal Museum of Fine arts which houses a comprehensive collection of Flemish and Dutch masters, as well as a selection of contemporary Belgian art, or the Plantin Moretus Museum, with its hand-operated printing presses, engravings and tapestries.

And springing out of this rich past, Antwerp’s present buzzes with all kinds of smart shops, cafes and entertainment for the modern visitor. There is the Zoo, as well as the slow-moving River Scheldt where boat trips will guide you gracefully through the bustling harbor that is also part of Antwerp’s present.