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Heritage Stories

Heritage Stories

The Potato Eaters, Vincent van Gogh, 1885 - Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam - Wikimedia Commons

Potato Crisis

Less than two centuries ago, in 1845–1847, a devastating famine raged across the European countryside. In Belgium, it claimed the lives of some 44,000 people, mainly in East and West Flanders. The cause was a fungal disease—unknown at the time—that affected the potato. Originally from

Wagon maker Henri Vandewalle from Ramskapelle (Nieuwpoort), ca. 1940–1950 - © CAG, Dries Claeys Collection

The Wheelwright

In rural areas, for a long time it was necessary to be a jack-of-all-trades. Well into the 19th century, farming families had to make and repair their own tools, bake bread, sew clothes… Yet there were also specialized craftsmen in every village. They were indispensable to the farm. The blacksmith was

The village center of Bokrijk in Haspengouw - Wikimedia Commons, photo by Bart Bosmans

Bokrijk Open-Air Museum

The decision to protect cultural heritage often comes only when that heritage is in danger of disappearing. In the first half of the 20th century, no highways yet crisscrossed the Flemish countryside, and ribbon development had only just begun to gain ground. Yet some people noted that a way of life,

The Beet Harvest, Emile Claus, 1890 - © Mudel, Deinze

Emile Claus, Beet Harvest

According to the legend behind *Beet Harvest*, the Impressionist painter Emile Claus unfurled a gigantic canvas in the fields near his Villa Zonneschijn in the late 19th century in order to paint a scene of farmers harvesting beets. He is said to have then lowered the canvas into a ditch, so that at the top

Hunting Scene, Frans Snijders, c. 1600–1650 – Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille – © Wikimedia Commons

Animal Art

Wild boars and deer, fighting for their lives during the hunt. Lavish still lifes of fish catches and hunting trophies. In the 17th century, painters such as Frans Snijders and Clara Peeters placed animals at the center of their work for the first time. Animal art developed into a genre in its own right. For hunting scenes and still lifes featuring animals by Frans Snijders and

Polish School on Nachtegalenstraat, Genk - Memory of Genk Collection, Emile Van Doren Museum

Polish miners

The novel *Zosja* (2020) by Limburg-based author Arlette Henek tells the story of her grandmother, who moved from Poland to Belgium as a young woman during the interwar period. She followed her husband, who had found work in the Waterschei coal mine. He was one of the tens of thousands of Poles who

The interior of the Gravenkapel - © Wikimedia Commons

The Counts' Chapel

The Counts’ Chapel is part of the Church of Our Lady in Kortrijk. The Flemish Count Louis of Male had it built in 1371. The chapel owes its name to the niches containing painted portraits of the counts of Flanders, who from the 9th to the early 15th century were a (relatively)