Our universe
A youth hostel where every object carries a story of its own. Tap any piece to discover the history, the place or the person it points to.
"Redcoat", also referred to as scarlet tunic, is a military garment formerly used by British infantry servicemen, so much so that the term became a reference for the servicemen themselves.
It dates back to the Tudor period, and was widely used from the 16th to the 19th century. By the start of the 20th century the red coat was abandoned for practical reasons in favour of khaki, worn by all British Empire military units.
This is a coal bucket, also called a fireside bin with ceramic handles. We found it when we started doing the renovation works at The Classic.
It is a decorative bucket-shaped container made to hold and carry coal. They are generally made from brass or copper with a swinging handle and were popular in the Victorian and Edwardian Arts & Crafts period, when these non-inflammable buckets stood proudly at the chimney or stove.
This is Peter. Peter Paul Rubens, a Flemish artist and diplomat (1577-1640) considered to be the most influential artist of the Flemish baroque tradition.
His paintings emphasized movement, colour and sensuality and reference elements of classical and Christian history. Rubens was a prolific artist, running a workshop in Antwerp where he worked on paintings that were popular with nobility and art collectors throughout Europe.
Did you know that Belgium has the largest number of castles per square metre in the world? There are more than 3000 castles, beating even France.
Chateau de Walzin has been a source of fascination for centuries and has been depicted in many paintings and drawings, including this one in Delfts Blauw ceramic style. Looking down on the river Lesse, it rises on a steep rock right above the bank of the river.
Showcasing a bit of a cheeky smile in his portrait, Stijn Streuvels (West Flanders, 1871-1969) is known as one of the most important innovators of Dutch-language literature.
From 1937 through 1957, he was nominated 13 times as a contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature. He was not only a celebrated writer, but also a gifted photographer whose work is on view in the Letterenhuis in Antwerp.
Yes! Brussels also has its own apéritif, and it is not beer!
East-Flemish distillery Rubbens was created in 1817, when an agricultural operation decided to use the grain rests of their harvest to produce alcohol. The distillery started production of original jenever products that were sold in typical white-stone pitchers.
A pillow, but not just any pillow, one that proudly puts the Lion's Mound, le Lion de Waterloo, in focus.
Erected between 1824 and 1826, 9 years after the battle of Waterloo, the Lion's Mound is the most widely recognized landmark of the Waterloo battlefield, and celebrates the victory of the allied armies defying France's Napoleon Bonaparte.
Founded in Grasse in 1853, La Savonnerie et Parfumerie Jean Giraud Fils is a family business specialized in the creation of exotic perfumes, located in the world capital of perfume: Grasse.
Grasse is located in the Provence, on the Côte d'Azur, and is home to a prospering perfume industry since the 18th century. Two thirds of France's natural aromas for perfume and food are produced in Grasse.
We eat waffles, but not just any kind. First showcased at the Universal Exhibition in Brussels, Expo 58, Belgian waffles were introduced to the US in 1962.
There are many myths around the original Brussels waffle, but it is said to be born between 1842 and 1864, with lighter batter, crispy texture, deeper pockets and larger squares, becoming a true Belgian gastronomic icon.
This is an authentic lifebuoy dating back to 1955, when the grandfather of the hostel owners, Maurits, owner of shipping vessels, fished up this buoy from the North Sea.
It came from the Johannishus, an oil tanker built in 1952 in the Malmö shipping yard that went up in flames on the North Sea on June 9th 1955.
Also known as steamer trunks, cabin trunks or traveling trunks, these were originally used as luggage for extended trips by steamship, train or stagecoach. Many were quite elaborate inside and out.
They first appeared in the late 1870s, although most date from the 1880-1920 period when traveling exploded as railroads and steam-powered boats provided easier options for travel.
Plane parts, in the literal meaning of the word. When we saw these in the window of an antique dealer in Antwerp Kloosterstraat, we were a bit intrigued.
They turned out to be authentic parts coming from a 1973 McDonnell-Douglas DC-9-31 and were sourced from the main aircraft boneyard in the US, the Davis-Monthan Air Force Boneyard in Tucson.
Terrot was the name of a French company launched by Charles Terrot in 1887, producing bicycles first, then in 1902 building and selling their first motorcycles.
Its first motorcycle, the Motorette, was produced in 1902 and had a 2 HP engine. The company went on to produce some 190 different models. These early concepts were the springboard for the French motorcycle industry.
This was before. When the likes of Steve McQueen, Clint Eastwood, James Dean and Marlon Brando would ride around the streets of LA and Easy Rider was about to become a landmark counterculture movie.
At the height of the craze there was a need for fuel, and so all major oil companies provided fast fueling stations specifically designed for motorcycles. So did Royal Dutch Shell, and this is one of them.
This plate, in Delfts Blauw ceramic style, portrays Blankenberge, a Belgian coastal town with a long beach, promenade and marina.
Its famous Belgium Pier, dating back to the Art Deco period, was constructed in 1933 and throws itself into the North Sea with spectacular views of the seafront. Blankenberge is known for its Art Nouveau architecture.
This helmet dates from World War I (1914-1918) and comes straight from the trenches. It has a bullet hole that probably saw its owner either severely injured or dead.
It is testimony to the cruel, close encounters the allied forces had with the German invaders. Despite its neutral position, Belgium was invaded in 1914 and the Germans went on to occupy 95% of the territory.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow, between the crosses, row on row, that mark our place; and in the sky the larks, still bravely singing, fly, scarce heard amid the guns below.
This famous poem by John McCrae, a Canadian colonel who fought in the 2nd battle of Ypres in 1915, inspired people all over the world to wear poppies as an enduring symbol of remembrance and commemoration.
The iron-cast parts you see here were dug up from the Belgian coastline. They were part of the Atlantic Wall (Atlantikwall), the extensive system of coastal defenses built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944.
Hundreds of reinforced concrete pillboxes were built on the beaches to house machine guns, antitank guns and artillery. Many bunkers and historic artefacts still exist near Oostende and along the Dutch coastline.
Passendale is a rural village in West Flanders, near the town of Ypres. It is also commonly known as the battlefield of the WWI campaign, the Battle of Passchendaele.
It was a British-led offensive against the Germans and lasted from July to November 1917. The signs you see here are commemorative plaques that celebrate the victory of the Battle of Flanders on September 18th.
This is an original part of the original Atomium, coming to you straight from 1958.
The Atomium is a landmark modernistic construct in Brussels, originally built as the focal piece of the 1958 World Fair, Expo 58. The name Atomium is a contraction of Atom and Aluminum.
This is an original picture that came from the walls of what is now the Contemporary Art Center Wiels in Forest. It used to be the HQ of the Brasserie Wielemans-Ceuppens.
Wielemans-Ceuppens was one of the more than 50 brewers in Brussels that were located along the Senne. The family built a new modern brasserie in Forest that was inaugurated in 1881.
This old, battered door used to keep thugs, thieves and other criminals at bay when they were locked up in the 19th century Brugge prison house, at the time one of the largest prisons in Belgium.
The prison was built following the model of the American Cherry Hill prison in Philadelphia, where prisoners were housed in individual cells coming together on shared hallways, which simplified surveillance.
Did you know that British and mainland European merry-go-round horses do not turn the same way? In the UK they turn clockwise with the horses facing left, while in the US and mainland Europe they face right.
This wooden horse comes from an ancient Brussels carousel that was dismantled to make place for a modern, iron and steel variant. The word "carousel" stems from the twelfth-century Arabian games of horsemanship.
Everybody knows Tintin. But did you know that Tintin is almost 100 years old? He was born in the pages of Le Petit Vingtième, a weekly Belgian newspaper, in 1929.
More than 270 million copies have gone over the counter and Les Aventures de Tintin have been translated into more than 110 languages. Tintin even went to the moon in the 1953 album Objectif Lune, some 16 years before Armstrong.
We do not really know who this man is. But we liked his portrait and what he represents: a century-old Belgian tradition recognized by the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity chapter of UNESCO.
Shrimp fishing by horse is extinct except for Oostduinkerke, which is the only place in the world where shrimp fishing still happens on horseback, at low tide, both in summer and winter.
Introducing Charles and Hector in their typical black and blue shirts. Hector Goetinck and Charles Cambier were two of the top players of FC Bruges, crowned Belgian League Champions 18 times since 1891.
Club Brugge is the only Belgian club to have played the final of the European Cup (now the UEFA Champions League), losing to Liverpool in the final of the 1978 season. It has the largest fan base in Belgium.
Exactly 100 years. That is what the 1930 exhibition is all about: a celebration of 100 years of Belgian independence, gained after years of submission and hardship.
After a series of incidents, the revolution erupted in Brussels in 1830. It started on the Place des Martyrs, right behind the Rue Neuve, just two minutes away from The Legacy. A provisional government declared independence on October 4th, 1830.