War and industrial relics in West Flanders

After more than twenty years of vacancy, work on the modernist main building of the Kosmos holiday domain on the Rodeberg will start at the end of 2024. The modernist building will house a hotel, café and restaurant.

One of the first open-air swimming pools in Belgium is located in Spiere-Helkijn. A water treatment plant at the mouth of the Spierebeek in the Scheldt was converted into an open-air swimming pool at the end of the 1930s.

Excavation works of the Ypres-Comines canal started in 1864. The canal would realize a connection between the Yser River and the Leie River. However, landslides at the ridge in Hollebeke soon threw a spanner in the works.

Ostend is a lot more than sand, sea and sun. Two wooden slipways, built in the United States and installed in 1931 in Oostend, are floating on the Oosteroever.

After a century, a concrete gun emplacement is all that remains of "Lange Max," the Germans' giant cannon used during the First World War.

The Frontzate, the former railway line 74 connecting Diksmuide with Nieuwpoort, suddenly played a leading role as a front line during the First World War.

Izegem in West Flanders was one of the first Flemish municipalities to develop its own power station in 1900. As a result, the largest preserved steam engine in Belgium is located there.