🇧🇪Country
Belgium: four boat lifts, a bugle call every evening and the Atomium
These three places lie in different parts of Belgium and answer different needs: boat lifts in Hainaut that move canal boats between levels with little water, a nightly bugle call under the Menin Gate in Ieper, West Flanders, and the Atomium in Brussels, raised for a world’s fair and kept afterwards.
At a glance
A place worth remembering
Boat lifts in Hainaut: a steep canal with little water
The Canal du Centre links the basins of the Meuse and the Scheldt and formed part of a programme to open up Hainaut, an industrial region rich in coal. Its engineers faced a large change in height over a short distance and only a small supply of water. UNESCO describes the answer as boat lifts developed by English engineers using only hydraulic power: four lifts over 7 km, each covering a change in level of 15 to 16 m. Digging began in 1884 and the canal opened to navigation in 1917. Today it is used for leisure navigation, and UNESCO places the lifts at La Louvière and Le Roeulx.[1]
The Last Post under the Menin Gate
Every evening at 8 o’clock the police stop the traffic passing under the Menin Gate in Ieper (Ypres), West Flanders, so that buglers can sound the Last Post. The Last Post Association, an independent voluntary organisation of local people, sounded the first call on 2 July 1928. That first run ended on 30 September, and the daily call resumed on 1 May 1929. During the German occupation, from 20 May 1940 to 6 September 1944, it was played at Brookwood Cemetery in the United Kingdom instead. The buglers wear the uniform of the local volunteer fire brigade, and all of them must be members.[2][3][4][5]
The Atomium: a world’s fair structure that stayed
The Atomium in Brussels was built for Expo 58. Its study phase began in January 1955, with wind-tunnel tests on how a set of spheres would resist the wind. The frame is steel, and in 1958 the outer shells were aluminium: each sphere was covered with 48 identical spherical triangles, nearly 9,000 plates in all. It was completed on 25 March 1958, a month before the fair opened. It was not supposed to survive Expo 58, though its designers expected it to stand for at least ten years. After a renovation from 2004 to 2006 its skin is stainless steel.[6][7]
Good to know
A few clear answers before you explore.
Why does the Canal du Centre use boat lifts?
The canal had to climb a large height difference over a short distance with little water available. According to UNESCO, boat lifts could do this using only hydraulic power.[1]
Is the Last Post sounded under the Menin Gate every day?
The Last Post Association says it is sounded every evening at 8 o’clock and is free to attend without reservation. It was not played in Ieper between 20 May 1940 and 6 September 1944, when it moved to Brookwood Cemetery in the United Kingdom.[2][3]
Was the Atomium meant to stay after Expo 58?
Not originally. Its designers expected it to stand for at least ten years, and a 25-year lease signed in 1959 between Fabrimétal and the city of Brussels kept it open. It was renovated between 2004 and 2006.[7]
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