I am not sure do i like this handwriting or not. It looks nice all letters are perfectly matching, but i cannot understand what the writer would like to say 😂. So i will just enjoy looking at it without understanding. Like an art. But the most important thing is that i like the postcard and i like this multi view that shows what each photo represents. All of them are significant for the place where Stefan comes from and that is Liwr of course.
Additional info – Lier is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. It is composed of the city of Lier proper and the village of Koningshooikt. The people of Lier are often called Schapekoppen (sheep heads), which as a 14th-century insult turned into a point of pride.
The first photo on the left is the ‘bronze statue on a Belgian bluestone plinth’ , by Jan Alfons Keustermans. The statue is called ‘Pallieter gazes up at the sky with his hands in his pockets’ . He is the main character in the novel of the same name and he enjoys life to the fullest, created by the author Felix Timmermans . The words “pallieter” and “pallieteren”, invented by Timmermans, have now become part of the Dutch language. The statue was installed in 1986 on the occasion of Timmermans Year.
The second photo on the top is the church Sint – Gummaruskerk , Lier’s eye-catching Brabantine Gothic church that was built in phases over 200 years from the 1370s. St. Gummarus is the patron saint of Lier but also of the deaf and dumb, woodworkers, lumberjacks and glove makers.
The third photo on the bottom center of the postcard is Gevangenenpoort, the remaining gate from Lier’s Medieval inner ramparts or the Prison Gate, put up in 1375.
The fourth photo, on the right bottom is Lierse kant or lace from Lier. Lace from Lier is a design embroidered by hand on mechanically woven tulle. Lier lace is made by a hook on tulle. Most important with lace from Lier is that you trace the pattern perfectly on the tulle. This requires practice because of the tulle has an horizontal and two diagonal thread-directions which can be difficult when beautiful, round arches need to be made.
Fascinating. I love it. In fact the skills of making lace can be teach at the Lier Academy of Fine Arts 😮 Amazing.
There is another fascinating thing I would like to mention which is not on the postcard but is important for Lier, and that is the Zimmer clock tower.
Louis Zimmer, the Lier-born astronomer and clockmaker to the King of Belgium created the Jubelklok (Jubilee or Centenary Clock), which he donated to the city in 1928 to celebrate 100 years of Belgian independence.
This staggering timepiece has an outer ring of faces showing, amongst other things, the phases of the moon, the solar cycle, the week, the month, the tides, the epact* and equation of time.
*epact – the number of days by which the solar year differs from the lunar year
At 12:00 the clock displays the dates 1830-1930, as well as the Belgian and Lier coats of arms, Belgium’s first three kings and the six mayors of Lier following independence.
There are also four automatons representing the four stages of life.
It amazes me. Albert Einstein personally praised Zimmer when he saw the clock at the 1939 New York World’s Fair.
Also there is Zimmer Museum. I dare you to search and see this beautiful peace of art and read more on internet. Its really amazing.
Ahh, place, so worth visiting one day.
