Château du Stuyvenberg, Brussels, Belgium

Stuyvenberg Castle is a residency of the Belgian Royal Family, located in Laeken, Brussels. It was built in 1725, acquired for 200,000 franks by the Belgian State in 1840, and later bought by Leopold II who donated it to the Royal Trust. It is near the Royal Palace of Laeken, the official residence of the King and Queen of the Belgians.

The first Belgian King Leopold I used the castle for his mistress Arcadie Meyer-Claret, and their second child Arthur was born there in 1852. Later, it was the birthplace of King Baudouin in 1930 and Albert II in 1934; both spent their early years at Stuyvenberg. After World War II Elisabeth of Bavaria, widow of King Albert I, lived at the castle until her death in 1965. Subsequently it was used for almost three decades as a guest house for foreign dignitaries. From 1998 to 2014 Queen Fabiola, widow of King Baudouin, called it her home. She died at Stuyvenberg on December 5, 2014.

The residence has also been home to Princess Astrid of Belgium, the sister of the current King Philippe.

References:

Wikipedia

Jan Hus Memorial

The Jan Hus Memorial stands at one end of Old Town Square. The huge monument depicts victorious Hussite warriors and Protestants who were forced into exile 200 years after Hus, and a young mother who symbolises national rebirth. The monument was so large that the sculptor designed and built his own villa and studio where the work could be carried out. It was unveiled in 1915 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Jan Hus' martyrdom. The memorial was designed by Ladislav Šaloun and paid for solely by public donations.

Born in 1369, Hus became an influential religious thinker, philosopher, and reformer in Prague. He was a key predecessor to the Protestant movement of the sixteenth century. In his works he criticized religious moral decay of the Catholic Church. Accordingly, the Czech patriot Hus believed that mass should be given in the vernacular, or local language, rather than in Latin. He was inspired by the teachings of John Wycliffe.

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