The best traffic-free bike rides in Bertembos En Grevensbos

Unless I'm mistaken... but I think it has disappeared... in any case, one of the <F3> has disappeared...

A walled and hedged cemetery surrounds the parish church. The brick cemetery wall on a natural stone plinth is capped with a bluestone coping stone. Both the iron gates above the brick wall and the entrance gate hang from brick gate pillars with a bluestone capping. A pedestrian passageway runs to the left and right of the entrance gate. An undated natural stone cross has been incorporated into the north wall. The historic cemetery contains a series of gravestones from the interwar and postwar periods. They are designed in a sober Art Deco and Modernist style. The gravestones evolve from bluestone to (multicolored) composite stone, mosaic, synthetic material, natural stone, and granite, thus demonstrating the shift in material use between 1960 and 1980. Several epitaphs are placed on marble slabs. Near the entrance is a plot dedicated to Belgian veterans, marked by identical bluestone crosses bearing the Belgian flag. The cemetery expansion, dating from the 1990s, primarily includes granite headstones. The flowerbeds are bordered by clipped hedges and clipped hornbeam volumes. The shift towards ash burials is clearly visible in the newly created scattering meadow and urn vaults. Inventory of Immovable Heritage: Parish Church of St. Anthony with cemetery, https://id.erfgoed.net/erfgoedobjecten/43369

Church built of sandstone; the floor plan unfolds with a west tower, three naves of three bays, a projecting transept, and a long choir ending in a three-sided apse. Square Gothic tower with three stories dating from the second half of the 13th century; ground floor covered with heavy rib vaults resting on roughly worked corbels; pointed arch towards the nave; upper floor perhaps formerly equipped with a tribune (currently in neo-style); bell storey with decorated sound holes in the east and south facades; rectangular, partially renovated wall openings in the other sides; oculus from the 18th century and neo-Gothic portal on the south side. Nave and transept from the same period, covered with a steep roof in late Gothic style (16th century); brick vaulting in the transepts, but wooden pointed barrel vaulting in the nave. Light corner buttresses against the shouldered gables of the transept arms; the arcade and northeast half-column are possibly older and built together with the choir. Western choir bay covered with a pointed barrel vault (late 15th century); closed-off and blind eastern section in a less developed Gothic style (13th or 14th century), partially rebuilt of iron sandstone in large and regular bond; new window in the north; the date 1731 on the choir apse probably indicates a restoration. Furniture. In the transepts, paintings by Verhaghen (late 18th century); Romanesque baptismal font decorated with four heads (12th century) and a Gothic holy water font (16th century). Inventory of Immovable Heritage: Parish Church of St. Anthony with cemetery, https://id.erfgoed.net/erfgoedobjecten/43369

Heverleebos. Forest on the outskirts of the magnificent city of Leuven. Its paths, perfect for gravel riding, hosted the 2023 European Gravel Championships (with victories by Lorena Wiebes and local rider Jasper Stuyven) and the 2024 Gravel World Championships (with victories by Marianne Vos and Mathieu van der Poel).

This monumental pulpit was made for the abbey church (Norbertines) of Ninove and consists of a rock and two palm trees. At the bottom, the conversion of Norbert is depicted, and Peter in a cave. In 1807, it was transferred to St. Peter's Basilica in Leuven. Source and more: https://ornamentsnijder.blogspot.com/2024/05/preekstoel-in-de-collegiale-sint.html

St. James' Church is one of Leuven's five medieval parish churches, located in the west of the city, approximately 500 meters outside the first city walls. The former cemetery of St. James' Church is enclosed by Brusselsestraat, Kruisstraat, Pelgrimstraat, and Sint-Jacobsplein. Stability problems led to the closure of the church building in 1963, which has since undergone major consolidations. The origins of St. James' Church are believed to have been a 12th-century chapel built in the hamlet of Ter Biest, a residential area in the Voer valley. A St. James' Church is first mentioned in 1187 and again in 1222. Along with the parishes of St. Quentin, St. Michael, and St. Gertrude, St. James became an independent entity from St. Peter's Parish in 1252. Besides being a parish church, St. James's Church was also a stop for pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela. Leuven lay on the route of pilgrims traveling from Cologne via Aachen, Maastricht, and Brussels to Paris. Near St. James's Church, the St. Laurentius Hospice for pilgrims was built in the 13th century on Blauwe Hoek (the intersection of Brusselsestraat, Goudsbloemstraat, and Riddersstraat). According to Canon Lemaire, the west tower, the oldest part of the current church, dates from around 1220-1235. A three-aisled nave adjoined the tower; excavations in 1943 revealed the foundations of the aisles. These were narrower than the current aisles, but also extended to the west facade of the tower. A new, wider nave was added in 1290-1300. Inventory of Immovable Heritage: Parish Church of St. James, https://id.erfgoed.net/erfgoedobjecten/42129

Of this original Romanesque church from the early 13th century, only the tower remains. The transept is also of interest, built between 1457 and 1488 by the architect of Leuven's town hall, Matheus de Layens. Currently closed for restoration work. Source: https://www.visitleuven.be/sint-jacobskerk Today, the church consists of three pillars and was a stop for pilgrims (Saint James and Compostela, as walkers know), which also made it a wealthy church. However, the foundations proved insufficient, and work is underway to improve them.

Church Meerbeek...