In 2018, I prepared myself to miles of walking, after finishing a Summer School at the Antwerp University. My plan was to exhaust all UNESCO World Heritage Sites (WHS) in the Flemish region of Belgium. However, plans usually are just there to guide your anticipation and excitement. For a strange reason, my plan of visiting…
Tag: Belgium
Béguines, or dedicated women for Christ and their béguinages (The Antwerp encounter)
When I was young, I thought I wanted to be a priest. As early as 10 or 11, I knew I wanted to dedicate myself to Christ. I remember my elementary classmates were all excited for high school, while my eyes were all set for the seminary. I was a seminarian – and über proud…
Come on and Ghent/Gent me, Gent me; Baby I’m Yours! (The Castle of the Counts/Gravensteen)
Belgium is my favorite European country. I have several reasons and Ghent/Gent is one of them. Why Ghent/Gent? I thought the city was really charming in a sense that its surroundings reminded me so much of the fairy tales I read in my elementary years and I watched on television and the big screen via…
The Photogenic City that is Bruges!
Fall 2017, I represented my University at the Frankfurt International Book Fair. The trip was official but I made sure to have time to explore the city plus Cologne, the closest heritage city to Frankfurt. Back then, the only city I wanted to see outside of Germany was Brussels for a very practical reason: lack…
Art Nouveau and Victor Horta
When I was young, my only idea of Belgium was Christelle Roelandts. The year was 1994. And my interest in Belgium began. Christelle Roelandts and 1994? Miss Universe 1994 was held in Manila, Philippines. Christelle Roelandts was Miss Belgium and she was one of my favorites. Unfortunately, she did not make it – not even…
Le Grand-Place, Brussels: Place Making is Community Making
When my book Performing Catholicism (UP Press, 2016) was chosen by the National Book Development Board to be part of the official book launch event of the Philippine Pavilion at the Frankfurt International Book Fair in 2016, I made sure to do a side trip to Brussels. Besides, the transportation system in this European region (i.e….
The Gutenberg Experience at the Plantin-Moretus House–Workshops–Museum Complex
The movable-type press is a system of printing and typography that uses movable components to reproduce a document usually on a paper. The figure behind this technology is Johannes Gutenberg, who in mid-15th century Europe, introduced the metal movable-type. Gutenberg created his type pieces (the metallic alphabets, numbers, and punctuation) from lead, tin, and antimony, which…
Belfries in the Flemish Region of Belgium: Towers of Power in European Histories
Among the European countries I visited, Belgium is my favorite. I will not get tired of visiting this small nation over and over again. For many, Belgium produces the best beer in the world. Actually, the Belgians are the producers of the best beers (take note plural) in the world. As for me, Belgium, especially…
Tanghal Kultura 