Bokrijk
Gateway from Heers (1774), entrance to the open-air museum during events.
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View on the village centre of museum-part Haspengouw.
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Living history - distilling jenever on authentic pot still.
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Bokrijk is a provincial domain in Limburg, Belgium, situated near the city of Genk. It is mainly known for its open-air museum. The domain is 5.5 square kilometres in area and hosts an important botanical garden (arboretum) and Flanders' largest open-air playground.
History
Early sources until the French Revolution
On March 9, 1252 Arnold IV, Count of Loon and Chiny (county of Loon) sold a forest, that was situated between Genk, Zonhoven and Hasselt, to the abbey of Herkenrode. This forest was called 'Buscurake' or Buksenrake ('buk' = beech, 'rake' = a part of land). The name later evolved into 'Bouchreyck' and eventually to Bokrijk. The Cistercian abbey of Herkenrode (in Kuringen near Hasselt) built a grangiae (abbey farm), dug out fish ponds and started forestry practices. The abbey farm was cultivated by lay brothers and from 1447 onwards functioned as an ordinary tenant farm. It remained the abbey's property until the years of the French Revolutionary Wars. In 1797 French Revolutionaries seized all properties of the Cistercian abbey and the same year sold it to a private investor from Maastricht.
Combining culture and nature
On the March 21, 1938 the province of Limburg acquired Bokrijk. Governor Hubert Verwilghen inspired the acquisition. Verwilghen strived for the creation of a public domain that would combine culture and nature. His vision would be realized years later under the dynamic impulse of provincial governor Louis Roppe. On October 6, 1953 the Provincial Council of the Province of Limburg decided to create an open-air museum in Bokrijk. With the post-war industrial revolution and the increasing development projects of the 1950s, Flanders' living environment was drastically changing. Agricultural buildings of important cultural and historical value for Flanders were disappearing from the landscape. Dr. Jozef Weyns was appointed to coordinate the project and remained in function as first conservator of the Open Air Museum of Bokrijk. The museum opened to the public on April 12, 1958 as contribution of the province of Limburg to the Expo '58 (Brussels World’s Fair).
Literature
- De Keyzer (Laurens). The Open-Air Museum Bokrijk. Gent-Amsterdam, Ludion, Ludion Guides, 2001, 128p. (photos: Michiel Hendryckx)
- Rentzhog (Sten). Open Air Museums. The history and future of a visionary idea. Kristianstad, Carlsson/Jamtli, 2007, 530p. (ISBN 978-91-7948-208-4)
External links
Media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. at Wikimedia Commons
- Official website of Bokrijk
- Bokrijk Adventurepark
- Review on Bokrijk
- Het Groene Huis (The Green House)
- Plantcol, Belgian botanical collections
- Regionaal Landschap Lage Kempen
- Het Wik
- Wereldplein
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