Trip to Belgium anyone? The thing about Belgium is this: just when you think you know it, you find an Art Nouveau winter garden inside a former girls’ boarding school… Say what now? Yep, as a Belgian I love showcasing this site because it always makes even the most ardent critic of Belgium stop and go “oh, that’s pretty!”. The Winter Garden of the Ursulines sits in Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-Waver, just outside Mechelen. From the outside, you would never quite guess what is waiting inside: a glass-and-iron Art Nouveau masterpiece from 1900, crowned by a stained-glass dome that turns the entire room into a kaleidoscope of soft colours. This is the definition of a hidden gem in Belgium. But the story is just as interesting as the architecture. This was once part of an international boarding school run by the Ursuline sisters. In the 19th and early 20th century, girls from Belgium and abroad came here to study at a time when education for women was far from self-evident. By 1900, the school had b
Trip to Belgium anyone? The thing about Belgium is this: just when you think you know it, you find an Art Nouveau winter garden inside a former girls’ boarding school… Say what now? Yep, as a Belgian I love showcasing this site because it always makes even the most ardent critic of Belgium stop and go “oh, that’s pretty!”. The Winter Garden of the Ursulines sits in Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-Waver, just outside Mechelen. From the outside, you would never quite guess what is waiting inside: a glass-and-iron Art Nouveau masterpiece from 1900, crowned by a stained-glass dome that turns the entire room into a kaleidoscope of soft colours. This is the definition of a hidden gem in Belgium. But the story is just as interesting as the architecture. This was once part of an international boarding school run by the Ursuline sisters. In the 19th and early 20th century, girls from Belgium and abroad came here to study at a time when education for women was far from self-evident. By 1900, the school had b