Zimmertower & Zimmerpavilion Lier (23-9-2005)

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

If you want to experience what Belgium really is like there are a few things you must visit to really feel it. One of these 'objects' is the Atomium in Brussels; a trip into 60's futurism and Belgian absurdism. Another 'object' I would suggest is the Zimmertower in Lier. Why? Well, read the story!

The first thing you will notice is obviously the tower which looks medieval. On one side you'll notice a sort of astronomical clock which reminds of the one in Prague but looks a lot more recent.
There's a sign near it which tells you the opening hours so ofcourse you'll go in because it's not expensive and you are dying to know more about this interesting tower ;-)

Inside you'll pay for your visit and will be let into a room (the pavilion) dominated by a very large clock with 93(!) dials. Luckily there's an info button (in 4 languages!) so you sit on a chair and listen to the story.

It's the story of Louis Zimmer, born on september 8th 1888 in Lier who invented these magnificent clocks. He made all the devices by hand which is quite impressive already!
The big clock you are watching is the Astronomical Wonderclock (I so much love this name!) and it measures time, tides, star-time, months, distance of the earth to the sun, the orbit of planets and meteors, and things I'm not even sure of...
One of these clocks is even measuring the changes in the elliptical orbit of the earth: it changes a little every year, so little that this clock is one of the slowest devices ever made!
This absurdly magical device Zimmer made in the 1930's and it was exhibited in Brussels and New York.
Beneath the 93 dials are three mechanical devices which will start working on each hour. In the far right one a few metal guys chime the time. In the middle ballerinas are twirling on the planets of our solar system, each making a leap and showing how high they would leap on each planet (they are the same weight ofcourse). On the far left a metal footballplayer with 1930's outfit stands on some scales showing his weight on each planet...
Luckily we were there at 17h so we did get to see this magical mechanical show ;-)

In this small pavilion you can also see some other interesting clocks, the medals Louis Zimmer got and an impression of his studio (exactly as it was left the day he died, december 12th 1970).

And now you can visit the tower which got your attention first. Inside this truly medieval (but renovated) tower is an astronomical studio. It features much of the clocks you could see on the Astronomical Wonderclock but bigger. And you can hear an explanation of these in 4 languages again ;-)
All these devices look extremely nice, quite quaint actually and it truly feels as if you are let into some wonderous new world.

In the last room of the tower you can hear the story of the clock you saw outside on the tower. This is the Jubilee-clock Zimmer made in 1930 as a gift to the city of Lier, celebrating 100 years of Belgian independence. It has 13 dials measuring several kinds of things like the earth rotation, the days of the week, the zodiac signs, the months, moonphases,... and ofcourse regular time ;-)
On one side of the tower there are also mechanical man chiming the time and at noon you can see the revolving pictures of Belgian kings and majors of Lier.

And then you descend into the other world again, the one were clocks aren't magical but just measure time...

Lier (a city in Belgium)

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

Yesterday we made a little trip to Lier to visit a museum (for free because of our Werchter wristband). Lier isn't very far from Mechelen (or Antwerp for that matter) so we went by car. We parked on a parking lot on the bank of the river Nete which has quite a strong current as we could see when we crossed it.

We could see a big church tower and some smaller towers rising above the city so we walked that way. First we walked past the Zimmertower (see review) and then past the great market to the small city museum we where going to visit. This walk already showed us some pretty medieval city sights so we were enjoying ourselves quite a lot ;-)

The Museum Wuyts-Van Campen & Baron Caroly only has about 4 rooms but is still very nice (and quite cheap if you have to pay). It's cool, quiet and you can photograph the art (as long as it's not for publication)! Ofcourse they don't have many objects or paintings but some of them are definite treasures!
They have a Bruegel painting with Flemish proverbs (this is one painted by the son, the one painted by the father is in Germany). And some extremely intense symbolist paintings by local artist Raymond de la Haye, who died in WWI after only two days at the front...
Because of our Werchter wristband we also got a Lier promotion bag with a pen, a lanyard and some leaflets with info in it, which made us even happier ;-D

By now I needed a new film so we searched for a (photo)shop near the great market which we found behind the town hall (which looks very nice by the way). There was also a little church in that street so we went in to have a look at it. It was very empty looking and very small but still nice.

We could still see the big church tower so we decided to visit that one too. It turned out to be the st-Gommarus church, an example of Brabantine Gothic style. The outside isn't very elaborate nor is the inside but it has several extremely elaborate altars! The oldest parts are from 1378 (the tower) and the whole church was finished by the 16th century. The stained glass windows from the 15/16th century are very nice and well preserved. So this church is definitely worth a visit too ;-)

After the church we went to the Zimmertower (see special review) which is very very much worth a visit ;-)
In short: we're lyrical about Lier!
For English info visit: http://www.trabel.com/lier/lier.htm (for Dutch info you can also visit www.lier.be)

Mechelen 2005: city in female hands

http://www.mechelen2005.be/
Visit Mechelen! Check the site for all the events taking place this year! And yes, it's totally safe for males to visit the cultural events ;-)

Especially visit the exhibition Women of distinction / Dames met klasse (see calender) because the objects and the info are totally worth it (and not just because I work there ;-p)!

Momu (Fashion Museum, Antwerpen, 11-9-2005)

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

I don't think that normally we would have visited this museum any time soon (especially Mark ;-p) but it was another free visit so we took the chance ;-)

And what a perfect surprise it turned out to be!
Not only was the museum nice and cool (it was extremely hot and moist outside) but they also played nice music and the special exhibit (Katharina Prospekt) was brilliant!

Katharina Pospekt is an exhibit thats part of Europalia Russia (see site http://www.europalia.be/). It was conceived by the fashion designers duo A.F. Vandevorst and it's brilliant: funny, pretty, cosy, exciting, nostalgic...
Everyone should go and see it! Especially if you are interested in Russia or clothes or just fun ;-p

Ethnographic Museum (Antwerpen, 11-9-2005)

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Other

I have ofcourse been here several times before but it's always nice to check their permanent collection (for free ;-p).

It's not a very big museum and the walls definitely need redecorating (they are an unclear greenish grey) but they have nice objects from many places.
The permanent collection for Asia has the best objects and America is nice too but a bit haphazard.

The best time to visit this museum is when they have a special exhibit because they are always very worthwhile. I have seen a brilliant one on precolumbian Mexican westcoast objects and the last one we visited about Asian bronzes was extremely beautiful too. So now we wait for the next exhibit ;-)

Rubenshuis (Antwerpen, 11-9-2005)

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Other

Well, obviously the house of Rubens ;-)
I guess that most of you will be familiar with paintings of the Baroque painter Rubens (if not try google ;-p) and can therefor imagine what kind of atmosphere one would expect in his house.

And right so: his house has the feel of being in between the middle ages and the more frivolous classical times. There's dark wooden chests and chairs; and golden leather on the walls in several rooms. Biblical scenes and many many antique gods and satyrs.
The Garden is especially nice. It looks like the perfect place to have a Roman banquet or orgy. There's many nice plants and even grapes and a citrustree.
Yes, Rubens had a very nice place to live, and in the middle of a big city too!

Lucky for us it was a free visit again; otherwise I don't think we'd have paid the full fee of 6 euro's because that's a bit much for just seeing some-ones house and garden no matter how beautiful ;-)

Antique sugarskull

This is a sugarskull from what used to be white sugar made somewhere before 1958!
(collection Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam)

I just have to show this one to you all!

KMSKB (Art Museum Brussels, 4-9-2005)

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

Still one of my favorite art museums for many reasons:
- it's a nice big labyrinth of a building
- it has art from the 15th to the 21th century
- it has had and will have some interesting exhibitions
- it used to have very nice desserts in the restaurant (haven't been there recently)
- it has the biggest person elevator I've ever seen, with chairs!
- it's in Brussels

This was another free visit so we went to see an exhibit (drawings from Rembrandt and his pupils; nice but very small exhibit) and some highlights in the 15/16th century section (we have recently been to the 20th century and the 19th was closed). The highlights in this section include: Memling, Van der Weyden, Bouts, Bosch, Bruegel (see pic)...

The museumsite has a nice database with info and pics for most of their collection:
check at http://www.fine-arts-museum.be/

MIM (Musical Instruments Museum, Brussels, 4-9-2005)

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

Normally a museum with only musical instruments would not sound like much fun but the MIM is the perfect exception. The front of the building itself, an Art Nouveau masterpiece, is already worth a visit but do go in as well ;-)

The exhibition rooms are cool, dark and pretty. The instruments look beautiful and there are soooo many!
They have every instrument you can imagine with strings, holes, skins, wood or all of these.
Bagpipes, virginals, ocarinas, mandolins, violins, organs, Jews' harps, harpsichords, drums...
And not just European but also Chinese, Eastern-European, Mexican, African...
But the best I left for last: not only can you see the instruments, you can also hear them! Included in the entrance fee is a set of headphones which lets you hear samples of almost all instruments!!

It's a pity my bag with our money was downstairs because they also have a nice shop and a restaurant on the top floor. So don't forget your purse when you go inside like we did ;-)
Next time I'm sure to take money with me to see if they have any cds with harpsichord and virginal music ;-D

Check the site for exhibits and further info at http://www.mim.fgov.be/

Steen&Been (Fossils etc shop in Antwerpen)

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

If you like fossils, stones, bones, insects, shells and would love to own some you should definitely go to this shop in Antwerp. It's very close to the KMSKA so if you ever visit that museum just make a small detour ;-)
The address = Volksstraat 59, Antwerpen. The shop also has some nice Mexican stuff and shell necklaces ;-)

Visit the website for more (dutch) info: www.steenenbeen.be

KMSKA (Art Museum Antwerpen, 3-9-2005)

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Other

I always like these big national art museums eventhough they are usually hot and a bit dusty. Ofcourse we have been here several times before so it's watching the highlights of old and modern art mostly.
Some highlights: Ensor, Delvaux, Magritte, Van Rysselberghe, Rubens, most of the 15th century works and ofcourse Jean Fouquets Madonna (see pic).

As a nice extra they had some works from the Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam) there and, pretty brilliant, an exhibit with very pristine looking Bruegels.

Fotomuseum Antwerpen (3-9-2005)

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Other

They're supposed to have an impressive collection of photographs and camera's but sadly there was only one exhibit (the other wing was closed) with Belgian photographers from A to Z.

Nice pictures for sure but the big attraction for me was the "keizerspanorama": a big round wooden viewmaster (remember those?) with 20 stereo-pics of the Antwerp Zoo from the end of the 19th century. Ofcourse we watched all the pics doing our version of musical chairs ;-)
The old pics (especially the daguerreotypes) and camera's were thrilling too.

It's a nice museum and it's well worth a visit if there's an exhibit you want to see. And in our case, this time, it was free anyway ;-)