Portal:Belgium/Did you know
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Did you know 1
- ...that for over a hundred years, the subject of the painting now identified as the Martyrdom of Saints Crispin and Crispinian (close-up pictured) by Aert van den Bossche was a mystery?
- ...that the Compromise of Nobles was drafted in the Sablon in Brussels, which would later be the site of the execution of 18 of its signatories?
- ...that Belgian artist Isabelle de Borchgrave creates life-size, painted paper sculptures of wedding gowns, shoes, needlework lace, and strings of pearls?
Did you know 2
- ...that Lutgardis (pictured) is reported as having levitated and dripped blood from her forehead when entranced?
- ...that the Renaissance composer Cornelis Verdonck wrote the only known motet written to be performed on the back of an elephant?
- ...that one of the patrons of The Ypres League was Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom, whose son, Prince Maurice of Battenberg, had died in World War I at the First Battle of Ypres?
Did you know 3
- ...that the irises of Saint-Géry Island became a symbol of Brussels, and the iris is now on the flag of the Brussels-Capital Region (pictured)?
- ...that Belgian artist Henry van de Velde was one of the leading representatives of the Art Nouveau movement?
- ...that the 2007–08 Belgian political crisis led to popular demands for the partition of Belgium?
Did you know 4
- ...that Belgium's sillon industriel (steelmaking pictured) was the first fully industrialized area in continental Europe?
- ...that the origins of the baptismal font at St Bartholomew's Church, Liège, usually dated 1107–1118, have been much disputed by art historians?
- ...that Charles de Visscher, a Belgian judge of the International Court of Justice, was orphaned at age twelve?
Did you know 5
- ...that Desiderius Erasmus nicknamed his academic opponent Jacobus Latomus (pictured) "Hephestion," a reference to Latomus's distinct limp?
- ...that the Free Belgian Forces fought in several theaters during World War II, including Great Britain, East Africa, the Mediterranean, and northwestern Europe?
- ...that the three drunken Wierix brothers of Antwerp influenced Ethiopian iconography?
Did you know 6
- ...that the covering of the Senne River (construction pictured) created the major boulevards of Brussels?
- ...that the Belgian Government in London during World War II was described as a "rump"?
- ...that of the vast Silva Carbonaria, "the charcoal forest" that stretched from south of Brussels to the Rhine in Merovingian days, 44.21 km² still remains in the Forêt de Soignes/Zoniënwoud?
Did you know 7
- ...that paling in 't groen (pictured) is a Flemish dish of eel in a green herb sauce?
- ...that Leopold II's mistress Caroline Lacroix was so loathed by the Belgian public that on one occasion, her carriage was stoned in Brussels?
- ...that a Bruges building dating to 1399 now houses a museum dedicated to fries?
Did you know 8
- ...that the Army of Flanders (Siege of Breda (1624) pictured) was the longest standing army in early modern history, operating from 1567 to 1706?
- ...that, during half a millennium, the Croÿ family produced two cardinals, seven bishops, nine field marshals, twenty generals, and thirty two knights of the Order of the Golden Fleece?
- ...that Larch Wood (Railway Cutting) cemetery in Belgium was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and contains the grave of the playwright Alan Bennett's uncle?
Did you know 9
- ...that the bombardment of Brussels by French troops (ruins pictured) in 1695 was later described by Napoleon Bonaparte as being "as barbarous as it was useless?"
- ...that until the French Revolution, the Belgian village of Moorsel was divided into two distinct sections?
- ...that the installation of an artificial Christmas tree in Brussels prompted an online petition against it with 25,000 signatures?
Did you know 10
Portal:Belgium/Did you know/10
- ...that Belgium's Carnival of Binche (pictured), which features a "battle of confetti", is the culmination of a build-up lasting 50 days?
- ...that Belgian avant-garde singer Catherine Jauniaux has been described as a "one-woman orchestra" and a "human sampler"?
- ...that after her European Parliamentary career, Anne André-Léonard served as the Assistant Commissioner for Belgium at the World Expo in Zaragoza from 2006 to 2008?