De Gerlachekaai or De Gerlache Quay in Antwerp has recently been redeveloped. It will be used by Antwerp Pride for its 2022 edition in August as “the large festival site”.
The De Gerlachekaai is a part of the Scheldt Quays on the right bank of the river. Located in the Zuid (South) neighbourhood between the Visserskaai (Fishermen Quay) and the Namenstraat (Namur Street). The construction of these quays dates back to the large-scale infrastructure project that developed a new harbor strip between 1877 and 1885 by straightening the Scheldt.
Recent changes
But recent changes have changed the Scheldt Quays dramatically. These changes are an ongoing process.
At the De Gerlachekaai, there is now a large cobbled area. A few pieces of furniture, an installation for riverside ash scatterings (funerals) and a bell. There’s also a banking, which become steeper going southwards.
Antwerp Pride surprised with the use of Operaplein or Opera Square for the 2021 COVID-19 safe edition, so it will be interesting how the De Gerlachekaai will be used. Will the banking be integrated.
Adjacent to the ‘square’, there’s a playground. This can easily be turned into an adult version. Ask Jeroen from Darklands for advice. Just saying.
Father and son
De Gerlache is a household name in Belgium.
Baron Adrien Victor Joseph de Gerlache de Gomery FRSGS (2 August 1866 – 4 December 1934) was a Belgian officer in the Belgian Royal Navy who led the Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897–1899.
In 1896, de Gerlache purchased the Norwegian-built whaling ship Patria, which he extensively refitted and renamed Belgica. With a multinational crew including Roald Amundsen, Frederick Cook, Antoni Bolesław Dobrowolski, Henryk Arctowski and Emil Racoviță, he set sail from Antwerp on 16 August 1897.
Baron Gaston de Gerlache de Gomery (Brussels, 17 November 1919 – Oudenaarde, 13 July 2006) was a son o Adrien. Hfollowed in the tracks of his father by leading the second Belgian expedition to Antarctica in 1957–1958, 60 years after his father led the 1897–1899 expedition.
Gaston de Gerlache and his crew established the King Baudouin Base in 1958 in the context of the International Geophysical Year.
Areas of Antwerp
- AREAS OF ANTWERP | Scheldekaaien or Scheldt Quays.
- AREAS OF ANTWERP | Zurenborg.
- AREAS OF ANTWERP | Cogels-Osylei between Berchem and Antwerp’s Zurenborg neighbourhood.
- ANTWERP | City forest, orchard and pond for Nieuw Zuid Scheldt Quays by 2024.
Antwerp Pride 2022 & Antwerp Queer Arts Festival 2022
- Full edition ft. parade and festival days for Antwerp Pride 2022.
- Antwerp Pride 2022 from 10 to 14 August for a 15th edition.
- Open Call for contributors for Antwerp Queer Arts Festival 2022.
- Antwerp Pride 2021: “Long time, no see”.
Queer Antwerp
- Rainbow zebra crossings of Antwerp.
- City chronicle ‘De kleur van de stad maakt mijn ziel amoureus’ recounts Queer Antwerp history.
- ‘Masculinities: Liberation through Photography’ exhibition at FOMU, Antwerp’s photography museum.
- Antwerp’s LGBTQI bookshop Kartonnen Dozen looking for a new home.
- Antwerp’s LGBTQI+ bookshop Kartonnen Dozen wins Çavaria Media Award.
- PHOTOS | Rainbows lit Antwerp.
Darklands 2022
- Darklands 2022 hints at postponement.
- Darklands 2022 introduces Puppy Walk through streets of Antwerp.
- Darklands 2022: 4 to 9 May at Waagnatie, Antwerp.
- Darklands 2020 was the last dance before COVID-19.
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