Mechelen highlights its Burgundian heritage with new visitor programme

Visit Mechelen, the tourism office of Mechelen (Malines, Mechlin) launched a programme putting the spotlight on the city’s Burgundian history. With a listening walk, visitors can experience the atmosphere of the 14th and 15th centuries as they walk through the Flemish city. On top of the St Rumbold’s Tower (Sint-Rombioutstoren) they can see with virtual reality technology what the city looked like in the period.

The new experiences developed by Visit Mechelen, in collaboration with government agency Visit Flanders, catapult visitors back to the Burgundian Netherlands in the 14th and 15th centuries. By immersing people in the daily life back then, they should get a good idea of what the Mechelen of that time must have looked like and what it was like to live there.

“We will not only let notables, but also ordinary people have their say during a listening walk of an hour and a half through the city”, Alderman for Tourism Björn Siffer (Groen) says to Belgium‘s prime news agency Belga. “At the St Rumbold’s Tower, people can revisit history via tablets, on top of the tower they can see what Mechelen looked like in the 15th century via augmented reality glasses.”

Much attention was also devoted to accessibility. The project’s team amongst others indicated all thresholds, cobblestones and slopes on the walk, so that people with physical disabilities can see in advance which parts are feasible for them and which are not. For people with hearing impairments, the stories were converted into Flemish Sign Language, for the blind or visually impaired there are tactile brochures allowing them to feel the Burgundian buildings.

Visit Flanders invested 3.5 million euros in the development of the new experiences.

“Mechelen always looks for the niche, not for the tourists who just want a quick selfie”, the agency’s CEO Peter De Wilde says. “One should not only focus on material heritage but also on intellectual heritage.”

The programme

“In the late 15th and early 16th century, Mechelen was a magnet for administrators, artists, philosophers, scientists… They were all attracted to the city where powerful woman Margaret of Austria had settled in 1507. Until then, dukes had travelled through their many territories in the Low Countries and France, but during this chapter of the Burgundian Renaissance, the wealth and knowledge came together in one place”, the press release says.

The highest court of justice was established in the Dyle City in the early 1500s. In this way, Mechelen became a legal capital and the Mechelen glory period began. Burgundian power was anchored in a fixed place for the first time, which ensured an influx of new influences, crafts and insights. Famous philosophers such as Erasmus and Thomas More, artist Albert Dürer, poet Janus Secundus or cannon founder Hans Poppenruyter: they all easily found their way to Mechelen.

The courts of Cambrai, Savoy and Busleyden were cultural hotspots. But the most famous meeting place was the court of governor Margareta of Austria. During the Burgundian Renaissance, Mechelen became a political, intellectual and cultural centre.

There is still plenty of evidence of this, because history lives on. Just look at the class that the many Mechelen city palaces still radiate 500 years later. And with new experience elements we bring Mechelen’s glory period back to life.

Augmented reality

What conversations were hidden behind the walls of Mechelen’s city palaces 500 years ago? You can find out with the audio walk ‘If walls could talk’. An augmented reality application in the St. Rumbold’s Tower lets you witness a spectacle that took place on the Grote Markt in 1516.

If you continue your visit to the Mechelen giant, two virtual reality viewers on the skywalk will teach you more about the palaces, city oases and monuments that you can spot from the roof of the St. Rumbold’s Tower.

But that’s not all. The fact that the term ‘Burgundian’ today means ‘rich living’ of course comes from somewhere. You didn’t have to teach Margareta and her fellow Mechelen residents what enjoyment was. A food archaeologist went back 500 years in time and came back with typical ingredients from back then. With these, twelve local tastemakers created delicious treats from today.

Because to sink your teeth into the Burgundian Renaissance, you have to be in Mechelen.

If these walks could talk

What if you could eavesdrop on Mechelen in 1473? Did the Habsburg princes in the Dyle City during the Burgundian period also talk about global warming or the pop stars of their time? You will find out during the listening walk ‘If walls coul talk’.

With a listening horn you can pick up conversations between dignitaries, hear discussions in the prison, chats on the Vismarkt, gossip between workers… If the walls of Mechelen could talk, they would tell about commotion among the beguines, gossip between girlfriends and confessions about secrets between the Mechelen residents of yesteryear.

It is clear that they do not always know that you are listening in… As you listen, you will form an image of Mechelen during its heyday. The medieval architect Antoon I Keldermans designed several Mechelen monuments and is the perfect person to take you on a tour of the Dyle City for an hour. A marked walking route takes you to historical buildings or everyday, meaningful locations. There you will see the impact of Mechelen’s medieval trading position, of Flanders‘ Burgundian period and of the Habsburg princes who settled in Mechelen at the time.

“For wheelchair users, we mapped out all the thresholds and mapped out an alternative route; for the blind and partially sighted, there are tactile brochures; for the deaf, we made videos in Flemish Sign Language, with or without subtitles. For the hearing impaired, it is possible to play the audio via your hearing aid, and simplified audio is also available so that people with mental challenges or people who are learning Dutch can follow this walk. For people with autism, a visual step-by-step plan is available to prepare for the visit to the listening walk.”

St Rumbold’s Tower

“What better place to relive the Burgundian heyday of Mechelen than the St. Rumbold’s Tower? From a height of 97 metres, you can see that the city has several centuries-old towers and city palaces. And 500 years later, they still radiate the class of that time.”

“Can you imagine 16th-century Mechelen? Thanks to augmented reality in the Askelder (Ash Cellar), the second highest floor of the St. Rumbold’s Tower, a Burgundian spectacle from 1516 comes to life before your eyes. You see market traders at work, hear bystanders booing someone and see how Hiëronymus van Busleyden, a gentleman, attracts attention with his chic clothing. As you continue your visit to the St. Rumbold’s Tower, two virtual reality viewers on the skywalk will teach you more about the palaces, urban oases and monuments that you can see from the roof of Mechelen.”

For the deaf and hard of hearing, subtitles are provided. At the bottom of the counter, there is a set-up for wheelchair users who cannot climb the tower. For people with autism, a visual step-by-step plan is available to prepare for a visit to the St Rumbold’s Tower.

A mouthful of Mechelen

In the ebb and flow between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Mechelen grew to become the hotspot of the Low Countries.

Musicians, artists, scientists, and noblemen: everyone wanted to be in Mechelen. And that is thanks to the last princess of Burgundy: Margaret of Austria.

“From our city, she ruled the Netherlands at the beginning of the 16th century. In her residential palace, the Court of Savoy, she collected riches from the New World: stuffed animals, gold and silver, clothing with feathers and fur, jewels and richly decorated weapons. And as a guest at her banquets, you could taste the latest ingredients from America, combined with the refined cuisine of Spain and Italy. A new era was in the air.”

Ten times a historical feast

‘Mond vol Mechelen‘ or ‘A mouthful of Mechelen‘ takes you back to that golden age, in a culinary route along ten Mechelen tastemakers. Together with food archaeologist Jeroen Van Vaerenbergh, they developed delicacies of today with typical ingredients of the past:

Belgian brie at Kaaswinkel Schockaert, IJzerenleen 28.
Mechelen gingerbread at Broodbroeders, Sint-Katelijnestraat 59.
Renaissance beer ‘Mechelse Felle‘ at Brouwerij Het Anker, Guido Gezellelaan 49 and at Batteliek, Wolverbosstraat 42.
An exotic beetle praline at The Cacao Project, Korenmarkt 2.
Apple and fennel ice cream at Gauthier, Befferstraat 10.
Speculaas or speculoos at De Zotte Morgen, Goswin de Stassartstraat 50.
Mechelen almond cookies at Philip’s Biscuits, Grote Markt 25.
Deliciously adapted fish dish at restaurant Emiel, Vismarkt 6.
Vegan habsburger at Funky Jungle, Onder-den-Toren 7.
Mechelen mustard, available soon.

Museum Hof van Busleyden

Museum Hof van Busleyden is an inspiring place where you can discover and

experience the Burgundian Renaissance in all its aspects. After a thorough restoration of both the interior and exterior, the sixteenth-century city palace in the historic city of Mechelen is ready for a new chapter.

The museum still looks back on this important period in the history of Mechelen, but from now on it does so even more with a contemporary, diverse and critical view. In addition, the museum also looks ahead to the future, together with its visitors.

Just like then, Museum Hof van Busleyden wants to be a place where people think about a world in change.

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