Belfry of Kortrijk | Belgium

Postcard
The belfry of Kortrijk is a medieval bell tower in the historical centre of Kortrijk, Belgium.

Belfries of Belgium and France is a UNESCO World Heritage site. In total 56 belfries have been inscribed. 

Hôtel Tassel | Belgium

Postcard
Victor Pierre Horta (1861 – 1947) was a Belgian architect and designer. Horta is considered one of the most important names in Art Nouveau architecture.

Major Town Houses of the Architect Victor Horta (Brussels) is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The four major town houses - Hôtel Tassel, Hôtel Solvay, Hôtel van Eetvelde, and Maison & Atelier Horta - are located in Brussels and designed by the architect Victor Horta.

Béguinage de Kortrijk | Belgium

Postcard
Béguinages are architectural ensembles composed of houses, churches, ancillary buildings and green spaces. In these closed communities, founded in the 13th century, the béguines (women who lived a religious life, but without any formal vows) could live and worship in a quiet environment.

Flemish Béguinages is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The beguinage in Kortrijk is one of 13 that are listed. Here you see the beguinages in Turnhout and in Brugge.

Béguinage de Turnhout | Belgium

Postcard
Flemish Béguinages is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The Béguines were women who dedicated their lives to God without retiring from the world. In the 13th century they founded the béguinages, enclosed communities designed to meet their spiritual and material needs. The Flemish béguinages are architectural ensembles composed of houses, churches, ancillary buildings and green spaces.

The Flemish Béguinages are a series of 13 sites in the Flanders Region of Belgium. This card shows the Béguinage de Turnhout.

Maison & Atelier Horta | Belgium

Postcard
Victor Pierre Horta (1861 – 1947) was a Belgian architect and designer. Horta is considered one of the most important names in Art Nouveau architecture.

Major Town Houses of the Architect Victor Horta (Brussels) is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The four major town houses - Hôtel Tassel, Hôtel Solvay, Hôtel van Eetvelde, and Maison & Atelier Horta - are located in Brussels and designed by the architect Victor Horta.

Flags of the World | Belgium

Postcard
In 1830, the Belgian Revolution led to the separation of the Southern Provinces from the Netherlands and to the establishment of an independent Belgium.

The Belgium flag was officially adopted on January 23, 1831.

Stoclet House | Belgium

Postcard
The Stoclet House is a mansion in Brussels, Belgium. It was built by architect Josef Hoffmann for banker and art lover Adolphe Stoclet between 1905 and 1911. Hoffmann’s goal was to make the Gesamtkunstwerk – ‘a total work of art’ – which meant designing the building as a complex piece of art including all its contents such as the garden, furniture and decoration.

The house today is empty, and there are just a couple of caretakers who are protecting this architectonic treasure from gradual decay.

Stamp
Did you notie this amazing stamp has an interesting feature? It is like a 'stamp within a stamp'.

Thank you very much Gerda!

Plantin-Moretus Museum | Belgium

Postcard
The Plantin-Moretus Museum is a printing plant and publishing house dating from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Situated in Antwerp it is associated with the history of the invention and spread of typography. The museum is named after Christophe Plantin (1520–1589), the greatest printer-publisher of the second half of the 16th century.

The museum is a UNESCO World Heritage site inscribed under the name Plantin-Moretus House-Workshops-Museum Complex.

Thank you Gerda!

Blegny-Mine | Belgium

Postcard
Blegny-Mine was a coal mine in Trembleur, near Liège, in Belgium which today is preserved as an industrial heritage site and show mine.

The mine is one of the four Major Mining Sites of Wallonia, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Here you see a postcard of the Bois du Cazier mine in Marcinelle.

Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Tournai | Belgium

Postcard
The Cathedral of Our Lady (Cathédrale Notre-Dame) in Tournai, Belgium is one of the most striking examples of Romanesque architecture in Europe.

The cathedral was built in the 12th century after Tournai had became the seat of a bishop.

Stamp

A matching stamp!

Neolithic Flint Mines at Spiennes | Belgium

Postcard
The Neolithic flint mines at Spiennes, Belgium, covering more than 100 ha, are the largest and earliest concentration of ancient mines in Europe. Mining in Spiennes started some
6,000 years ago.

Flint was used in the manufacture of tools during the Stone Age as it splits into thin, sharp splinters called flakes.

Stamps
In 2016, Belgium issued a set of 5 stamps to celebrate "Supermoon". A supermoon is the coincidence of a full moon being at te closest distance to earth.

Boat lift on the Canal du Centre | Belgium

Postcard
The Canal du Centre is a canal in Belgium, which, with other canals, links the waterways of the Meuse and Scheldt rivers. Some section of this canal climbs 66m over a distance of 6790m. Therefore this section contains four hydraulic boat lifts.

Of the eight hydraulic boat-lifts built at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, the only ones in the world which still exist in their original working condition are these four lifts on the Canal du Centre. The four lifts are a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The Grand Place, Brussels | Belgium

Postcard

The Grand Place is the central square of Brussels, Belgium. Every two years in August, an enormous "flower carpet" is set up in the Grand Place for a few days. A million colourful flowers are set up in patterns, and the display covers an area of 1,800 square metres.

The square is surrounded by a remarkably homogeneous body of public and private buildings, dating mainly from the late 17th century. La Grand-Place is a UNESCO World Heritage site.  

The city of Dinant | Belgium

Postcard

The Citadel of Dinant is a fortress located on top of the mountain you see in the background. The citadel overlooks the city of Dinant and the Meuse river which runs through the town.

The Collegiate Church of Our Lady is a 13th-century Gothic cathedral.

Let's meet Hao Hao and Xing Hui | Belgium

Postcard

Hao Hao and Xing Hue are two Giant Pandas, living in Pairi Daiza Wildlife Park in Belgium. Both pandas are on loan from China. On 22nd of June 2016, the 7-year-old Hao Hao gave birth to a 171-gram male cub.

The idea of pandas as gifts is known as 'panda diplomacy' and it has a long tradition in China. Panda diplomacy describes how the Chinese authorities let chosen governments keep pandas as a mark of respect between their countries. In the 1980s China moved away from 'gifting pandas' to countries, and instead started to loan them out.

Princely Beguinage Ten Wijngaarde | Belgium

Postcard
Béguinages are architectural ensembles composed of houses, churches, ancillary buildings and green spaces. 

In these closed communities, founded in the 13th century, the béguines (women who lived a religious life, but without any formal vows) could live and worship in a quiet environment. 

Flemish Béguinages is a UNESCO World Heritage site. 

Le Bois du Cazier, Marcinelle | Belgium

Postcard

The Bois du Cazier was a coal mine in Marcinelle, Belgium. It was the scene of a mining disaster in 1956, when 263 men lost their lives. 

Bois du Cazier is one of the four mines that form the UNESCO world Heritage site of “Major Mining Sites of Wallonia”. 

Cathedral of Our Lady, Antwerp

Postcard

The Cathedral of Our Lady is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Antwerp, Belgium. The cathedral is on the list of World Heritage Sites. It is one of the ‘Belfries of Belgium and France’.

The Belfries of Belgium and France are 56 bell-towers, built between the 11th and 20th centuries. They are mostly found in town centers, and connected to the local town hall or church. At their time, the Belfries represented the growing importance of cities. 

Stamp

The Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium (IRM) celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2013. For this occasion Belgian post issued four thermo sensitive stamps depicting the four seasons of the year.

The foliage of the trees on the stamps is green if you puts a finger on the stamp and heat it up, the green layer disappears showing the tree in one of the four seasons. This stamp depicts summer. 

The capital of Belgium

Postcard

Brussels is the capital of Belgium and could be considered as the capital of the European Union. Brussels hosts the official seats of the European Commission, Council of the European Union, and European Council, as well as a seat of the European Parliament.  

 

At a height of 90 meters the National Basilica of the Sacred Heart is one of the landmarks of the city of Brussels. Building started officially in 1905 but only in 1970 it was fully completed. The Basilica ranks fifth among the world’s largest churches.

Stamp

A swallowtail butterfly.

Historical city centre of Bruges | Brugge, Belgium

Postcard

Bruges, often called "Venice of the North", is one of Belgiums most popular tourism destination . Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders. The historic city centre is a prominent World Heritage Site of UNESCO.

Bruges was one of the world’s leading cities during the 13th and 14th centuries.  At the time,  it was a center for international commerce and had a population equivalent to London’s during the same period. Unfortunately, the city’s harbor silted up in the middle of the fifteenth century and Bruges lost its ability to function as a commercial port. Soon thereafter, the city fell into decline and was eclipsed in importance by Antwerp.

 

Stamp

From a booklet of 5 self-adhesive stamps about Franco Dragone (born in 1952). He is an Italian-Belgian theatre director, known for his work with Cirque du Soleil.