Open Monument Day celebrates 25th birthday

Another distinctive military building is the Fort Liefkenshoek, in Beveren, East Flanders, built in the 16th century to protect Antwerp and its harbour. Later, it was a quarantine station, marine base and holiday site for the military. Apart from an experience centre, there also is a new hands-on centre for children.

At Moeland Castle in Sint-Niklaas, East Flanders, the knight de Schoutheete de Tervarent used to eat in a dining room decorated in Egyptian style, with panels that are exact copies of Egyptian examples – such as the zodiac on the ceiling. The Egyptian influence is just as obvious at the Domain de Spoelberch in Haacht, Flemish Brabant, where you can enter a pyramid in the castle park. Other highlights are the orangery, temple, cave, obelisk and the collection of rare trees and exotic plants.

At the Institute of the Ursulinen in Sint-Katelijne-Waver, Antwerp province, interior decorators were inspired by the former Belgian colony of Congo when they designed the unique Kongo room in the 1920s. The international school also houses an elegant winter garden where visitors to the girls living there were received. The park is also worth a walk.

Joos Clemmen, a cotton baron from Ghent, had a passion for China. In the house of Hôtel Arnold Vanderhaeghen, he installed a Chinese parlour with a wall covering in painted Chinese silk. The museum’s Maurice Maeterlinck Cabinet is dedicated to the Gentenaar Nobel Prize winner.

The Torck toy factory in Deinze, East Flanders, which opened after the First World War, went bankrupt in 1971 and has stood empty since then. An exhibition with authentic quadricycles and original documents gives an overview of  its history. Unlike Torck, power station Transfo in Zwevegem, West Flanders, has recently been restored. The plant, built a century ago, has been converted into a space for cultural, touristic, sports or business events. Nearby in Wevelgem, a craftsman from Blacksmith Vanmaercke will give demonstrations and volunteers will relate the history of this authentic workshop.

For the 150th anniversary of the Rijksgevangenis at Dendermonde, East Flanders, its staff will give tours inside the walls of the prison. If you want to see how the judicial system works, you are welcome at the Court of Oudenaarde, where fake court sessions are held.

At the atelier flat of Jozef Peeters in Antwerp and the house of Pieter De Bruyne in Aalst, East Flanders, you step into the world of creative minds. Peeters has painted his ceilings and walls with geometric colour planes, making it look like a three-dimensional painting. At the house of furniture designer De Bruyne, the Blue Room refers to a similar space in the house of the German writer Goethe in Weimar.

Among the many monuments at the coast, the lighthouse Lange Nelle in Ostend literally sticks out from the rest. Lange Nelle is 65 metres high, has 324 steps and has been guiding fishermen into the harbour since 1949. The small Majutte House at Blankenberge is more down-to-earth. The house of fisherman Pé Majutte gives you a good idea how fishermen lived in bygone times.

Ghent has organised six thematic walking tours, including one around the Rabot quarter – a neighbourhood that is part of an urban renewal project. Kids can learn how medieval monks wrote during a workshop at the Sint-Pieters Abbey. Also in Ghent, scientists at the Rommelaerecomplex give youngsters an insight in the “language of life”: our DNA. At the Atelier André in Aalst, close to the house of Pieter De Bruyne, artist André Van Schuylenbergh uses De Bruyne’s ideas to inspire children’s creativity.

Among the large offer of tours at the coast is a walk around the Belle Epoque quarter in Ostend. Guide Johan Geuvens  will show you around his Villa Zaza and take you to an old hidden cinema in the area.

Also at the coast, in Koksijde, you can join in the party atmosphere at the restored boat hotel Normandie. The non-profit Historical Vessels, from Mechelen, shows you  ships like de Ouderhoek and Den Oeschaert. With small boats, you can make trips on the Leuven-Mechelen canal.

Near the Museum aan de Stroom (MAS) in Antwerp, guides will take you on an exploration at high altitude if you want to visit the 17 harbour cranes – the world’s largest museum collection of historical cranes. It’s perhaps not for those with vertigo, as you climb a ladder to an altitude of around 30 metres.

www.openmonumenten.be