Travel&Adventury...

...Belgium...

I fell in love with this country during my first visit and ever since it's the place where my soul is resting, the place where I want to come back again and again ... 
It captivated me with its hospitality, architecture, traditions and customs...

Tongeren is the city where my friends live and I come in with a great pleasure. It is a small quiet town with its history ...

Tongeren is the oldest town in Belgium, founded in the first century B.C. by the Roman invaders. Ambiorix, who's statute is still visible at the Grand Place, was the leader of the Eburons, the original inhabitants of the region.

In the picture above you can see a part of the medieval fortifications that are still preserved.

Among the numerous monuments Gothic Our Lady of Tongeren Basilic (Causa Nostrae Laetitiae) takes the first place. Built in the Gothic style of the XIII century it towers above the city.

 

First mentioned in documents dated 964 AC, then this place was a basilica in Romanesque style. Gray stone building in the Gothic style, which can be seen today, was created from 1240 to 1536.

Through its history the Church has repeatedly been burned. One of the features of the device Basilica is that the Romanesque cloister (in terms of rectangular courtyard surrounded by colonnaded galleries under a roof or vaults and separating the part of the temple premises) located in the eastern part of the church, although it is usually in the southern part. This is explained by the fact that the walls were not allowed to expand to the south. In the cloister, the last remnants of the church and convent of 12-13 centuries, is about 60 burial stones. 
High Gothic windows illuminate the choir (place before the altar, the entire eastern part of the church building) and the main treasures of the Basilica - carved Gothic altar (16th century), which depicts 23 scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary, two Easter candle (1372) and the rest into the shape of an eagle. 
Statue of Virgin Mary (1479), the patron saint of the basilica, made ​​of walnut wood, standing in the left aisle. On the right side is a large crucifix (11th century).

 

Beguinage of St. Catherine is one of the oldest in Belgium. 

Even before 1239 there were Béguines in Tongeren. To protect the city from possible attacks to 1264, the city center was surrounded by defensive walls, but the Béguines residential area was located outside, so they were given a small plot of land near the river Yeker. Now Beguinage was inside the castle walls, but was separated from the rest of the city. 

First centuries after the founding were calm. New buildings appeared around the church of St. Catherine, were the rest of the cemetery and an orchard. 

Beguinage consists of eight streets. Street connects Bredestraat area Onder de Linde with the church of St. Catherine. Here are the buildings in the classical, neoclassical and maasskom styles, this is the part most rebuilt.

Church of St. Catherine, built in early Gothic tradition dates back to 1294. She is a three-nave basilica. It contains many works of art: paintings of the 17th century, the music stand (18th century), a statue of Jesus suffering, as well as 16th-century frescoes.

 I like to make photographs  of the doors in my travels, they are so different and each door bears its own character, its own mood ...

During my last visit, I was lucky enough to get to the local book fair, which was held just in the Beguinage territory...

 

And despite the fact that Tongeren is a small town, every time I find in it something new... 

Of course what I told is but a small part of what I saw during my visits, but believe me, to fall in love with this city, come here once and take a stroll through the streets ... It will reveal its secrets and mysteries, and if you are looking for solitude and silence, it will protect you from all the problems and concerns in small parks and squares... 

Welcome to Belgium, welcome to Tongeren...

With love ShonA!