Antwerp

Clay pits had, from the end of the nineteenth century, taken over more than half of the territory of the hamlet of Terhagen in Belgium. After excavation, nature gradually reclaimed its space.

For more than half a century, you’ve been able to cross the Kempen Canal near Geel via a Bailey bridge, a temporary bridge developed for military purposes during World War II.

Antwerp has been connected to the Netherlands by rail since 1854. In the early days, trains wriggled through the city centre at street level, which was not ideal. Indeed, steam locomotives caused a lot of noise and odour during their passage.

The unfinished concrete carcass of a ghost hotel has been receiving its first visitors since early 2025 after more than half a century of vacancy and decay.

You will find relics of the former railway yard Spoor Oost along the ring track around Antwerp.

For almost a century, the Veuve Van Enschodt bridge over the Rupel was the only connection between the Antwerp municipalities of Klein Willebroek and Boom.

The Norbertines of Tongerlo Abbey erected a moated castle on the site where noble lords and ladies had resided since 1271.

In Antwerp, dozens of kilometres of trenches, parapets and ramparts lie hidden under a thick crust of branches and leaves.

Together with Liège, Antwerp was home to the 1930 World's Exposition, a double exhibition that the Bureau International des Expositions did not recognise.

To defend the nation against foreign attacks, a series of forts were built around Antwerp, Liège and Namur from the end of the nineteenth century. For example, the Defense Line of Antwerp consisted of sixteen larger strongholds in a wide circle around the city, including Fort Breendonk.