La Citadelle Dinant, a piece of Dutch history in Belgium
A capsule summary of the history of the Citadel of Dinant and why it came to the Dutch’s hands. William of Orange was then the King of the Netherlands.
Trivia: Did you know that Belgium was part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands up until 1830 when the Belgians revolted, which was mainly propagated and lead by the French speaking elitists?
It is so interesting to learn history and how people lived before and how it came to be now. If not because of the French elitists, the divide in language—French in the south and Dutch in the north, the even deeper divide in religion—the Burgundian Catholics in the south, and the austere Calvinists in the north, and the political factions—sentiments of the southerners being left behind as trade and economy was focused up in the north, Belgium and the Netherlands would have been one single country today.
But isn’t it that history can repeat itself? Now, the Dutch speaking part of Belgium wants autonomy from the French speaking part, for the same reasons. The other way around. This looks quite like retribution in disguise, in a different form, in a different time.
Waiting for the citadel tour. I was there during the World Cup week and these Oranje supporters are not even Dutch. They speak English and French, think one of them is French. Tour was in French and Dutch but I had to listen carefully because the tourguide's Dutch has a heavy accent.
Vaulted hallways...
In the prison cell: left foto is the head guard's desk and right foto is the guillotine and torture paraphernalia.
An exemplar of a Dutch kitchen (see the hairy wild boar).
And a Dutch bakery.
The wooden stilts are the original stilts used to support the bridge of Dinant.
The citadel was used as a garrison during the French-German war.
The 30-degree tilted chamber, check the guy on the photo, he had to steady himself and bend, haha.
We all came from the stairs down to this chamber and on this photo, we exited through this door. You can see the significant difference of the elevation.
The citadel was rebuilt by the Dutch in 1821 and it is one of the few Dutch remnants in Belgium during the marriage between Belgium and the Netherlands in the Golden Age period. During the citadel tour, you can see what life was before during the Dutch period. There is a Hollandse kitchen, Hollandse bakery and even a Hollandse prison cell.
There are two highlights of this citadel tour, 1) a visit to the large balcony hanging at the edge of the precipice with stunning views to the city of Dinant and the Meuse River—great to take panoramic fotos here, and 2) the chamber where the tour ends that got bomb, its foundation rocked resulting into a 30-degree tilted elevation.
The 30-degree slanted chamber was really dizzying! Due to being tilted, it was a real challenge to walk on it because our line of vision is affected. Our knees were wobbling as we carefully and slowly fumbled to the exit, holding on to the railings like our lives solely depended on it. This was a nice surprise and a real fun to end the citadel tour.
At the main courtyard in the castle. The tour is done!
Travel Period: July 2010
Destination: Dinant (Namur), Belgium
Keep in touch and follow me on Facebook: Travel & Lifestyle Diaries by Dutched Pinay Travels
Happy Travels! Enjoy Life =)
