The citadel in Diest is a 19th-century fort that served as an army barracks for the paratroopers until 2011. The city will renovate the citadel in several phases and repurpose it into a new city district. As part of this, part of the citadel will be given a temporary activating function from the summer of 2024. This temporary function is organised by the Citadel Diest cooperative. Here you will find a lot of entrepreneurs, organisations and associations that work on very diverse themes: work & meeting, creativity & rest, sports & games, crafts, making & learning and tasty local products. In Block 3 you will find coworking, meeting and gathering spaces, creative entrepreneurs and a wide range of activities around rest, health and well-being. Block 4 houses the makers, circular entrepreneurs and also the production and short-chain sales of local healthy food. All event spaces are located in Block 5.

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August 21, 2020

The Diestse Citadel is the only remaining brick example in Flanders. The citadel was built between 1845 and 1853 on a hill, Allerheiligenberg. The construction of the Citadel was the dominant culmination of the transformation of Diest into a fortified city, after the fort, the walls and the city gates were built earlier. The whole building is purely focused on military functionality, with the bluestone gate in neoclassical style as the only embellishment. The Citadel was built in the shape of a pentagon (with sides of about 190 meters each) and is surrounded by dry moats. In the center you will find a large open square from which archways lead to the fronts and bastions. The barracks had various facilities to support the men. Such as service rooms, living and sleeping areas, storage areas for armaments and food, a pharmacy and doctor's cabinet, a bakery and kitchen. A unique element is the Chasseloup-Laubat defense system. The cannons in the flanks of the bastions (pentagonal extensions of the rampart) have to flank the moats. And here cannon cellars are protected by an overlying brick mask. it not only offered a solution for smoke extraction, but also ensured that the cannons could not be destroyed. The Diest Citadel is the only one in Europe where this defense system has remained virtually intact.

A visit to the Citadel and / or the Pegasus Museum with guide is possible. More information on the "For groups" tab.

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Jan

October 27, 2020

In 1953 the First Battalion Para-Commando established itself on the citadel of Diest.
On July 1, 2011, the last soldiers left the Citadel and on February 23, 2013, the Ministry of Defense handed them over to the city of Diest. Pegasus Museum v.z.w remained alone in the bastion and can still be visited by appointment for groups of 15 or more.

PEGASUS MUSEUM
Location: entrance gate citadel
Opening hours: every first Sunday of the month from 1 pm to 4 pm.

FREE ACCESS
Contact : info@pegasus-museum.be
Postal address: Pegasus Museum Citadel 3290 Diest

During the summer months there are Open Door days.
Consult the agenda for dates and times.
(Source: pegasus-museum.weebly.com)

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Elevation 90 m

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Max wind speed: 13.0 km/h

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See hikes here

Take Me There

Location: Diest, Leuven, Flemish Brabant, Flanders, Belgium

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