Belgium is a
sovereign state and a
federalconstitutional monarchy with a
parliamentary system. Its institutional organization is complex and is structured on both regional and linguistic grounds. It is divided into three highly
autonomousregions: the
Flemish Region (Flanders) in the north, the
Walloon Region (Wallonia) in the south, and the
Brussels-Capital Region. Brussels is the smallest and most densely populated region, as well as the richest region in terms of
GDP per capita. Belgium is also home to two main linguistic communities: the
Flemish Community, which constitutes about 60 percent of the population, and the
French Community, which constitutes about 40 percent of the population. A small
German-speaking Community, making up around one percent of the population, exists in the
East Cantons. The Brussels-Capital Region is officially bilingual in French and Dutch, although French is the majority language and lingua franca. Belgium's linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its complex system of governance, made up of
six different governments.
Since the
Middle Ages, Belgium's central location has meant that the area has been relatively prosperous, connected commercially and politically to its bigger neighbours. The country as it exists today was established following the 1830
Belgian Revolution, when it seceded from the
United Kingdom of the Netherlands, which had incorporated the
Southern Netherlands (which comprised most of modern-day Belgium) after the
Congress of Vienna in 1815. The name chosen for the new state is derived from the Latin word Belgium, used in
Julius Caesar's "
Gallic Wars", to describe a nearby region in the period around 55 BCE. Belgium has also been the battleground of European powers, earning the moniker "the Battlefield of Europe", a reputation reinforced in the 20th century by both
world wars. (Full article...)
The Committee formed an integral part of the policy of "lesser evil" (moindre mal) collaboration in which Belgian officials were required to seek compromises with German military demands in order to maintain a degree of administrative autonomy. It comprised the Secretaries-General of each of the major government departments. However, the German administration began to introduce new members from August 1940 including those such as
Victor Leemans and
Gérard Romsée [
nl] who were sympathetic to
authoritarianism. They helped to facilitate the more radical administrative reforms demanded by the Germans, although the Committee refused to involve itself in the
deportation of Belgian Jews. As the visible face of the German administration, the Committee became more and more unpopular as the war progressed. Several of its members were prosecuted for collaboration after the
Liberation of Belgium in September 1944 but several, including Leemans, subsequently pursued political careers in post-war Belgium. (Full article...)
Poeke Castle is a castle near
Poeke,
Belgium. Standing on 56 hectares of park, the castle is surrounded by water and is accessible through bridges at the front and rear of the building.
A
self-portrait of Louis-Marie Autissier (1772–1830), a French-born Belgian
portrait miniature painter. He is considered the founder of the Belgian school of miniature painting in the nineteenth century. Born at
Vannes, in
Brittany, he joined the
French Revolutionary Army at
Rennes in 1791. On leaving the army in 1795, Autissier went to Paris and trained his art by studying paintings at the
Louvre. In 1796 he settled in
Brussels, but continued to divide his time between Belgium, the Netherlands, and France. Although he enjoyed great success in his career, serving as
court painter to
Louis Napoleon, French King of the Netherlands, and later to
Willem I, Autissier died penniless.
An early 20th-century sail wagon, used in the sport of land sailing, in
Brooklyn, New York. Land sailing is the act of moving across land in a
wheeled vehicle powered by
wind through the use of a
sail. Although land yachts have existed since
Ancient Egypt, the modern sport was born in
Belgium in 1898.
The Belgian franc was the currency of the Kingdom of Belgium from 1832 until 2002, when the
euro was introduced. The
Belgian mint was innovative, and in 1860, the country became the first to introduce coins made of
cupronickel. A few years later, in 1865, Belgium formed the
Latin Monetary Union with France, Switzerland and Italy (Greece joined the system later), which facilitated trade between the countries by setting standards by which gold and silver currency could be minted and exchanged.
Averbode Abbey is a
Premonstratensian abbey in Averbode, in the municipality of
Scherpenheuvel-Zichem, Belgium. The abbey was founded about 1134, suppressed in 1797, and re-established in 1834. The church is a synthesis of
Baroque and
Gothic architecture, with
Renaissance ornamental details, and dominates the monastery complex; it was built between 1664 and 1672, to a design by the Antwerp architect
Jan Van den Eynde II. This view of the church's interior shows the
chancel, with the
choir in the foreground and the
sanctuary in the background.
Pyrotechnicsstunt exhibition by "Giant Auto Rodéo", a
Belgianstunt performer group. Stunt performers typically perform stunts for
films or
television programs. Stunts are sometimes rigged so that they look dangerous while still having safety mechanisms, but often they are as dangerous as they appear to be.
Three scenes of the legend of the Miraculous Sacrament in stained glass windows in the
Cathédrale Saints-Michel-et-Gudule of Brussels by Jean-Baptiste Capronnier (c. 1870). The contributions of Capronnier (1814–1891) helped lead to a revival in glass painting.
Averbode Abbey, founded about 1134–35 by Count Arnold II of Loon, is a
Premonstratensian monastery situated in the
Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels in Belgium. The abbey reached its peak in the 16th and 17th centuries, though over the past hundred years it has been in a state of decline.
The
ULPower UL260i, a flat-four engine produced by
ULPower Aero Engines of Belgium. Flat-four engines are
flat engines with
four cylinders arranged horizontally in two banks of two cylinders on each side of a central
crankcase; they can be used in cars, motorcycles, or aircraft. This type of engine tends to be
well-balanced and have efficient cooling, but is expensive to manufacture and considerably wider than other engines.
Sunrise, Inverness Copse, is a 1918 artwork by the British war artist
Paul Nash. It shows a desolate
Western Front landscape at
Inverness Copse, near
Ypres in Belgium; the sun is rising over the hills to reveal shattered trees standing among mounds of earth and an expanse of mud, pock-marked by shell-holes and devoid of vegetation. The pen-and-ink drawing, with watercolour and chalk, is held by the
Imperial War Museum in London.
After a period serving in the
Artists Rifles following the outbreak of the First World War, Nash was commissioned as an officer in the
Hampshire Regiment. He was sent to Flanders in February 1917, but was invalided back to London in May 1917, a few days before his unit was nearly obliterated at the
Battle of Messines. Nash became an official
war artist and returned to the
Ypres Salient, where he was shocked by the devastation caused by war. In six weeks on the Western Front, he completed what he called "fifty drawings of muddy places". He later used this drawing as the basis for his 1918 oil painting We Are Making a New World.
... that to attend the 1915
Women at the Hague Congress, Eugénie Hamer and the Belgian delegates drove, were frisked, walked two hours, and took a train?
Image 24Southern part of the
Low Countries with bishopry towns and abbeys c. 7th century.
Abbeys were the onset to larger villages and even some towns to reshape the landscape. (from History of Belgium)