The best city hikes and walks in Bossen Van De Merode / Merodese Bossen

Graffiti: A giant portrait of Toots Thielemans adorns the side wall of building number 164 on Bergstraat in Heist-op-den-Berg. It's a work by local graffiti artist Björn De Weerdt. The piece is the focal point of the temporary Hnita Jazz Bar during this weekend's street fair. It was a deliberate choice to portray an artist with ties to Heist-op-den-Berg's rich jazz history. Thielemans played for the Hnita Jazz Club several times in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. In 2012, he gave one of his last public performances at Heist's CC Zwaneberg.

The pillory is a monument in the Antwerp town of Heist-op-den-Berg, located on Kerkplein. It is a 17th-century pillory, designed as an octagonal bluestone column. The pillory features a masked head with an iron ring. As a result of the French Revolution, the pillory was removed in 1797. In 1948, it was replaced on the slope of Heiste Berg and in 1970, it was placed on Kerkplein.

The church is actually on the mountain here...

To visit the town hall, you really do have to climb the mountain...

Originally a mansion, used as a town hall since 1844. Owned by the municipality since 1874. A wide house incorporated in the ribbon development with a plastered and painted, neoclassical façade of five bays and two storeys under a saddle roof (ridge parallel to the street, slates), from the first half of the 19th century, completely renovated and extended in 1932-1933 to a design by the provincial architect G. Careels. Offices and a wedding hall were provided on the ground floor, the council chamber in "Flemish style" on the upper floor, the archive rooms on the mansard floor. Double house elevation with an emphasised central bay ending in a neo-baroque dormer window with a curved pediment and flanking volutes: shoulder arch door in a neo-rocaille-tinted frame with a crowning relief of "Heistse Zwaan". Simple rectangular windows with small glazing bars, on the upper floor in flat frame under water list. Wide wooden cornice on modillions. Sober council chamber in "Flemish style" with wrought ironwork by the Heist blacksmith A. Vereecke (1883-1958): Falcon and Weasel from 1929, Sea Eagle from 1938. Source Inventory of Immovable Heritage

Guillaume Leclercq had this building and the three adjacent houses on the left designed in 1899. Leclercq was a rentier who came to live in Heist-op-den-Berg after his marriage to the rich Antwerp widow Octavie Delplace. Who was Guillielmus Lodewijk LECLERQ? He was born in Diest in 1855 and went to Brussels as a young man, working for a pastry chef. When this baker died, he married the widow. That is how he came to his first fortune. When he later became a widower himself, he married the widow Octavia Delplace in Bruges in 1880. Her first husband had a chocolaterie in Antwerp. She also brought a fortune with her. Building was a mania for him. He built the villas in the Stationsstraat, the row of houses with sayings above the door in the Halfstraat, the Gemeentezaal (1899) on the mountain with adjacent houses, the Grotstraat, various houses in the Bergstraat such as Villa Concience. It was said that he had a total of 99 houses. Because of superstition he refused to have 100. Guillielmus also had the first car in Heist.

The Jaw or pillory is a monument located on the Kerkplein. This is also where the saying of 'putting something on the line' comes from. People were put on the line in the past. This often meant that they were made a fool of in public for a while. Historical interpretation: The expression was originally something else: putting someone on the line. The jaw was a platform, platform or scaffold. Criminals were put on it to punish them in front of everyone or to have them ridiculed by the public. The exact origin of jaw is not clear, but this word was already used in Middle Dutch in the meaning 'scaffold, raised scaffolding on which criminals were punished'. The Etymological Dictionary of Dutch suspects that jaw had been used in the meaning 'scaffolding, scaffolding' for some time. Later, in op de kaak stellen it acquired the specific meaning 'scaffolding on which criminals were exhibited and punished'. The platform on which the criminals stood was replaced in later centuries by a pole or platform against the wall of the town hall. The name 'jaw' remained in use and was given the meaning 'pillory'. The expression therefore changed from 'op de kaak stellen' to 'aan de kaak stellen'. This example dates from the 17th century. It is made of an octagonal bluestone column. The pillory is provided with a masked head with an iron ring. As a result of the French Revolution, the pillory was removed in 1797. In 1948 it was replaced on the slope of the Heistse Berg and in 1970 it was placed on the Kerkplein. Source: Wikipedia

The town in which the Sint-Lambertus church is located is not called Heist-op-den-Berg for nothing. In the town lies a large hill, with the church on top and around the church square houses from mainly the late 18th and 19th century. The road from the town to the top is very logically called Bergop. The Catholic parish church, largely walled, is old. The original church was built around 1340 and expanded over the centuries. Dedicated to Saint Lambertus of Maastricht, who is said to have converted people on this mountain in the 7th century. The current church is a three-aisled cruciform church, Gothic architectural style, beautiful pointed arch windows and a square sturdy integrated tower with spire. The church is largely built of beautiful light gray sandstone, probably quarried in the area. In 1585 the church was destroyed by Dutch troops, i.e. troops from the Northern Netherlands who fought against the Spanish troops (80-year war). The restoration of the church took many years. But the result is impressive .. beautiful church on a spacious church square. Unfortunately the church is closed. Inside you can admire early 20th century murals.