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Heritage Stories

Heritage Stories

The Beggars, Pieter Bruegel, 1568 - Musée du Louvre, Paris - © Wikimedia Commons

Begging

Since 2021, begging has been recognized as a human right. For centuries, however, it was treated as a crime that disrupted public order. In 1993, begging and vagrancy were removed from Belgian criminal law. The exploitation of beggars, however, remains a criminal offense. In the Middle Ages, beggars were regarded as outcasts who made no contribution

The Boerentoren in Antwerp, 1930 - © KIK-IRPA, Brussels

The Farmers' Tower

In 1919, the city of Antwerp was looking for a suitable use for a vacant lot on the Eiermarkt. A large, modern building was to be erected overlooking the Meir. Together with city architect Emile Van Averbeke, Jan Vanhoenacker and Jos Smolderen designed Belgium’s first skyscraper. The steel skeleton was built at lightning speed between

Digital reconstruction of the Old Stock Exchange, Bruges - © Westtoer, Ghent University, Timescope

The Bruges Stock Exchange

The financial heart of the medieval trading city beat on the Oude Beursplein in the center of Bruges. This square was home to the guildhouses of the Italian city-states of Venice, Florence, and Genoa. Italians worked in Bruges as merchants or bankers. Their guildhouses served as the commercial hub for their fellow countrymen. Take a stroll past them

Miners protest the closure of Zwartberg - "Memory of Genk" Collection, Emile Van Doren Museum - Photo by J. Harsch

The mine in Zwartberg is closing

In the years following World War II, the Limburg mines experienced an unprecedented boom. Coal was the driving force behind Belgium’s booming economy, so the government stepped in to support the mining sector. Miners were portrayed in carefully crafted campaigns as saviors of the nation. As a tribute, their likeness appeared on the coins of

Athlete Victor Boin takes the Olympic oath in Antwerp, 1920 - Sportimonium, Hofstade-Zemst - © erfgoedplus.be

The 1920 Antwerp Olympic Games

The Antwerp Olympic Games began on August 14, 1920. Spectators in the stadium witnessed a first. For the first time, a host city raised the now world-famous Olympic flag with the five rings. Antwerp remains the only Belgian city to have ever hosted the Games

The City Giants Indian, Mars, and Goliath during Katuit, 2023 - Tourism Dendermonde - toerismedendermonde.be, photo by Geert De Rycke

Katuit Giant Figure Procession in Dendermonde

Since the 16th century, the Giant’s Song has been heard in various places throughout Flanders: When the big bell tolls, the bell tolls, the giant comes out. Come back, giant, giant, come back, giant… Most giant parades originated from religious processions. From the late 14th century onward, these often grew in the cities

Children from Antwerp's urban schools at the summer camp in Sint-Idesbald, ca. 1962 - Westhoek verbeeldt, private collection - westhoekverbeeldt.be

Coastal summer camps

In 1876, Swiss doctor Walter Hermann Bion observed the conditions in which children in Zurich’s working-class neighborhoods were living. Concerned about their poor health, he took a group of them on vacation in 1876. There, he coined the term “vacation colony.” The idea quickly spread to Flanders. For