ブレヒトの洞窟・トップ20

Between the villas and the trees

Great start and end point for a drink or cake.

Right nearby is this entertaining hedge maze.

We were surprised to find this castle in the middle of the forest...

There was probably a hunting lodge here for the Duke of Brabant in 1233. The area was donated to the Saint Bernard Abbey in Hemiksem, which established an agricultural company there called Hoodonc (Hooidonk). The farm was first mentioned in 1287. It was split around 1566 into the Grote Hoeve van Hooidonk and the Kleine Hoeve van Hooidonk. In 1638 there were already four farms. There was also a house for the steward. (Wikipedia)

Sterckshof... is no longer a museum! (But the DIVA even more so) Gerard Sterck was apparently not happy with a silver museum in 'his' castle. Well, his words turned out to be prophetic. The history of the Sterckshof began in the 13th century when the castle consisted of a farm surrounded by a moat. After several centuries of ownership changes, renovations and destruction, this castle, or what remained of it, came into the hands of the Province of Antwerp. They rebuilt it in the 1930s in neo-Renaissance style. First, the Sterckshof was a museum for arts and crafts, until Jonkheer Pierre Lunden donated no fewer than 96 pieces of silver to the museum in 1976. This donation of works of art from the 16th century to the present day formed the basis of the extensive silver collection exhibited here. Since May 2018, this collection, together with the diamond collection, can be admired in the DIVA The Sterckshof currently houses artists' studios and the cozy Bar Stark. Source: https://www.schattenvandeurne.be/sterckshof

The domain and buildings were constructed as a country retreat in the 16th century. From 1618 to 1773 it was owned by the Jesuit fathers. In 1776 the domain came into the possession of a wealthy Antwerp banker Jan Baptist Cogels and the old castle was demolished. He then built a new Hof van Plaisantie. For the norm in the 18th century, what we see today was a modern castle. Now you can enjoy the grandeur of a bygone era here.

The Defense Line of Antwerp was decided upon by the choice of Antwerp as the National Reduit in 1859. The idea behind this was that Antwerp was most suitable as a last fortress until help from allies could arrive. The National Reduit would consist of: a siege wall, a fort belt and underwater settlements. The fort belt would consist of eight Brialmont forts (built in 1859) in an 18 km long belt from Wijnegem to Hoboken. After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, it was initially decided to build three bridgehead forts and then to build an outer line adapted to more modern weapons. The latter plan was ratified by law of March 30, 1906. This main resistance position included 16 forts and 10 redoubts on the right bank and 5 forts and 2 redoubts on the left bank.