アルケンの天然記念物・トップ20

ヘルショウフェンの最高地点からは、現在、ハスペンゴウ地方の風景の息をのむような景色を楽しむことができます。アーティストのフリット・ジェウリスは、このために、地元産の数十本の伐採された果樹を使ったユニークな芸術作品を作成しました。 「ヘルシュ(ea)ブン」は、それぞれ50年ものの標準的なサクランボの木90本で構成された木製の芸術作品で、2016年末にサクランボに小さな実を引き起こす伝染性の植物病であるサクランボ痘ウイルスに罹患しました。今、伐採された木々は第二の人生を得ています。この芸術作品は、ハスペンゴウのダイナミックな風景を象徴しています。

Very relaxing, beautiful well-maintained paths.

Witness hill The Bolderberg and especially its origins were the subject of heated discussions within the geological community for more than a hundred years, but its geological history is now well known. Today, this hill is the reference or type location for what is known in stratigraphy (the study of the succession of the earth's layers) as the Bolderberg Formation. It consists of yellow to white very fine sand, mainly composed of quartz grains. When the sun reflects in the sand, thin flakes, mica sheets, light up. Fossil shells also occur in the sand in various places. All these sediments were deposited in a shallow sea about 20 million years ago. The first descriptions of the geological structure of the Bolderberg date from the second half of the 19th century. André Dumont Sr., the author of the first detailed geological map of Belgium, defined his Système Boldérien there. The bulk of the hill belongs to this Système Boldérien or the current Formation of Bolderberg. The top of the hill, separated from the underlying Sand of Bolderberg by a gravel of black and blue flint pebbles, is formed by the Sand of Diest. Typical for this 10 million year old sand package is the rusty brown color and the presence of iron sandstone banks, formerly frequently used as building stone in many important buildings. These iron sandstone banks are the weathering product of minuscule dark green round glauconite grains that occur in the sand. It is probably the cap of resistant rusty iron sandstone that has ensured that the underlying sand has not been washed away and the Bolderberg has remained as a witness hill. Source: https://www.hbvl.be/regio/limburg/heusden-zolder/de-bolderberg-belangrijk-limburgs-geologisch-erfgoed/32387063.html

The Herkenrode Abbey site is an interesting combination of culture, history, nature and an ideal starting point for walks.

Experience the divine feeling of floating here...

Here, at the gallows, you are at the highest point in Helshoven. The artwork 'Helsh(ea)ven' by Frits Jeuris, known to most as the 'floating chapel', invites you to enjoy that landscape and the work itself. It is made from cherry tree wood. At the end of 2016, the 50-year-old high-stemmed trees in Helshoven had to be cut down due to a viral disease, Little Cherry, which causes tasteless cherries. The gallows represents death. Dead trees. And the dead person. And then there are the trees that are given a second life in the artwork, the floating chapel. An end, a beginning, a view, between heaven and Helshoven, inviting reflection, looking and of course what the work is best known for: that strange image of a chapel that seems to float.

Beautiful walking on these hilly sandy paths between the heath. 👌

The Bolderberg is a witness hill and nature reserve near the eponymous town of Bolderberg in the Belgian municipality of Heusden-Zolder. It is located near the Circuit Zolder, Domein Bovy and the nature reserves Waterlozen and Wijvenheide. The largest part of the hill - including the historic Kluis van Bolderberg - belongs to the private domain of Kasteel Vogelsanck. This part of the domain is accessible to the public. Another part is owned by Limburgs Landschap vzw and is managed as a nature reserve. This is a sub-area of the Laambeekvallei reserve and covers almost 70 ha. This reserve also includes the heathland on the Bolderberg known as the Gust Claesheide, named after the Bolderberg school principal Gust Claes (1927-1978), who did much to spread knowledge about and love for nature. At the bottom of the steeply sloping heathland, seepage emerges and one finds wet heathland and raised bog with, among other things, cotton grass, bog asphodel and bog myrtle. The tree frog also occurs there. From the Kluis one has a special view of the ponds in the depths and the castle of Terlaemen. (Wikipedia)