RED RIDING HOOD

Week 9 of Quarantine after chinese virus we were finally allowed to leave our own city and make a small change in our lives. Belgium is a tiny country but still many options were appearing.

The choice fell on Flanders region. The small city called Lier. Cute, surprisingly big, with canals just like in Amsterdam and heart-melting medieval architecture. Unfortunately, we couldn’t treat ourselves with the lunch in restaurant or a local bier called St Gummarus – according to its patron. Apparently, if you break your bone, you call for his help.

Lier is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. It got its name thanks to muddy shores. It is mentioned first time in 7th century.

in 1496 Lier was the scene of the marriage between Philip the Handsome – son of Maximilian of Austria, and Joanna of Castile. This marriage was pivotal to the history of Europe as Charles V, who was born to this marriage (Ghent, 1500), would go on to rule both the Holy Roman Empire and the Spanish Empire.

King Christian II of Denmark, accompanied by his spouse Isabella (sister to Charles V and known as Queen Elisabeth), lived in Lier until 1523, after having been expelled from Denmark by the local nobility while waiting in vain for military support from his brother in law. He attempted again to regain the Danish throne, but ended in eternal prison.

St. Gummarus Church, gothic architecture, 14th century.

The main square is a vivid space, surprisingly big for the small city. A conspicuous feature of the market square is the spot where Lier’s last witchcraft related execution is traditionally believed to have taken place.

Town hall, rococo architecture, 18th century.

Lier has one more interesting thing to visit: Zimmer tower also known as the Cornelius tower, that was originally from 14th century city fortifications. In 1930, astronomer and Louis Zimmer  built the Clock, which is displayed on the front of the tower, and consists of 12 clocks encircling a central one with 57 dials. These clocks showed time on all continents, phases of the moons, times of tides and many other periodic phenomena.

These wonder-clocks were prepared for the 1935 world exhibition in Brussels; later they were demonstrated in the USA. Around one of these dials moves the slowest pointer in the world – its complete revolution will take 25800 years, which corresponds to the period of the precession of the Earth’s axis. The wonder-clocks impressed Albert Einstein, who congratulated Zimmer on the creation of these unusual mechanisms.

At the start of the WWI, King Albert and his Chiefs of Staffs were temporarily headquartered in Lier as German lines advanced.