Page 192 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Belgium & Luxembourg

190  BEL GIUM AND L UXEMBOURG REGION B Y REGION

Stately avenues leading up to the grand Château de Beloeil, set in green parkland
6 Château de Soignes (see p169) near Brussels. 8 Plan Incliné de
Beloeil It later became well known for Ronquières
its blue limestone quarries. Today,
Rue du Château 11; 10 km (6 miles) its great treas ure is the robust Route Baccara 1; 14 km (9 miles) NE
SW of Attre. Road Map B3. Tel (069) Collégiale St-Vincent, named of Soignies. Road Map C3. Tel (078)
689426. @ Open Easter–Apr: 1–6pm after St Vincent Madelgaire, 059059. Open Apr–Oct: 10am–7pm
Sat and Sun; Apr–Jun & Sept: 1–6pm Governor of Hainaut, husband (last entry 5pm). Closed Thu–Sun of
Sat, Sun & public holidays; July of St Waudru of Mons and founder 1st weekend in Aug. & 8 May–
& Aug: daily. & Aug: Sun (boat trips). 9 7 except
∑ chateaudebeloeil.com of an abbey built here in AD 650. boat trips. ∑ voiesdeau.hainaut.be
The church was built between
Standing on a site that has been the 10th and 13th centuries, Modern canal engineering has
home to the eminent princes largely in Romanesque achieved some impressive
de Ligne since the 14th cen tury, style. The pastel interior feats in the region. One
Beloeil is a moated château built is impres sive for its scale of the most inter esting
originally in the 16th century. and under stated style. struc tures is on the
Until the French Revolutionary It has a poly chrome 14th- Brussels–Charleroi canal at
Army took over in 1792, it was century statue of the Ronquières. Boats
the domain of Charles-Joseph Virgin and Child, in a weighing up to 1,350
Lamoral, 7th Prince de Ligne (1735– niche beneath the Coat of arms at tonnes (1,500 tons) can
1814). Field marshal, diplomat and mar ble rood loft, as well Soignies’s church nego tiate a dif fer ence in
a close confidant of Joseph II of as carved Renaissance the canal levels of 68 m
Austria, he was at the courts choir stalls dating from 1576. (221 ft) in a single oper ation, by
of France and Russia and inter- using a trans porter lock. Called
acted with many of the lead ing R Collégiale St-Vincent the plan incliné (liter ally, inclined
political figures of his day. Grand Place. Tel (067) 331210. Open plane), this is a slop ing boat lift
Château de Beloeil was remodel- Apr–Sep: 8am–6pm daily; Oct–Mar: almost 1.5 km (1 mile) long. Boats
led in the French style during 8am–5pm daily. 7 access via Porte du enter one of the two vast water-
the 17th and 18th centuries Chevet. ∑ collegiale-soignies.be filled con tainers at either end of
with Versailles-like grandeur, but the plan incliné. The contain ers
a disas trous fire in 1900 badly then ride on rollers through the
damaged the central block. The length of the canal lift.
reconstructed chât eau displays When it was completed in
furniture, tapestries, paint ings 1968, the lift reduced the time
and a 20,000-volume lib rary. An taken by barges to travel
enor mous artificial water basin, between Charleroi and Brussels
parklands and formal gardens by some seven hours. To the
lie outside. north, the canal follows a 300-m
(984-ft) long aque duct. A
visitors’ centre in the soaring
7 Soignies control tower explains the
system through an audio visual
30 km (19 miles) E of Beloeil.
Road Map C3. * 27,000. £ @ presen tation. Glass footbridges
n Rue du Lombard 2; (067) 347376. allow a bird’s-eye view of the
opera tions of this colossal
The agreeable little town of mach ine and the land scape.
Soignies was once surrounded The control tower rising above the plan Visitors can also take boat trips
by woods linked to the Forêt de incliné at Ronquières through the plan incliné.
For hotels and restaurants see pp268–9 and pp288–9

190-191_EW_Belgium.indd 190 18/10/16 3:02 pm
Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Catalogue template “UK” LAYER
(Source v2.7)
Date 1st October 2013
Size 125mm x 217mm