Hippodrome Groenendaal

Hippodrome Groenendaal

Hippodrome Groenendaal

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Exploring Belgian Horse Racing

2010

On a good day in 2010 my uncle Geert asked me to join them on a sweet but cold trip to an abandoned hippodrome track near Brussels and I agreed right away.

He asked me to join him and his friend to go to the hippodrome of Groenendaal near Brussels and from there the exploration took off.

19.12.2010
Zettlab AI NAS D8 Ultra

© Alan Cuypers | Hippodroom Groenendaal 2011

1800’s

Introduction

4 October 1830

Episode of the Belgian Revolution of 1830, Gustaf Wappers

ChatGPT image of Henri Coppez on his  British-bred, Belgian-trained Thoroughbred racehorse; Prince Rose

Prince Rose

Henri Coppez

4 October 1830

Hervé Denaigre; rider of the British-bred, Belgian-trained Thoroughbred racehorse, often referred to as the best horse in Belgian racing history.

© ChatGPT Image

Prince Rose (Hervé Denaigre), oil on canvas<br />
painted by Bob Demuyser (1920–2003)

Prince Rose

Hervé Denaigre

1984

Prince Rose (Hervé Denaigre), oil on canvas

© Painted by Bob Demuyser (1920–2003)

Zettlab D6_Presentation Photo

© Horse Board Game

Hippodroom

Groenendaal

History

Definition

Hippodrome is a term sometimes used for public entertainment venues of various types. A modern example is the Hippodrome which opened in London in 1900 “combining circus, hippodrome, and stage performances”.

Etymology

The word “hippodrome” is derived from Ancient Greek hippódromos (Greek: ἱππόδρομος), a stadium for horse racing and chariot racing. The name itself is a compound of the words híppos (Greek: ἵππος), meaning “horse”, and drómos (Greek: δρόμος), meaning “course”. The ancient Roman counterpart was the circus.

Description

One end of the hippodromos of the Ancient Greeks was semicircular, while the other was a quadrilateral with an extensive portico. At the front thereof, at a lower level, were the stalls for the horses and chariots. On either end of the hippodromos were posts (Greek termata) around which the chariots turned. This was the most dangerous part of the track and the Greeks put an altar to Taraxippus (disturber of horses) there to show the spot where many chariots were wrecked. Where possible, it was built on the slope of a hill and the ground excavated from one side was transferred to the other to form an embankment thereat.

1880

1888

1923

1903

1999

Hippodroom van Bosvoorde

Hippodroom van Groenendaal

Hippodroom van Bredene

Hippodroom van Antwerpen

Hippodrome de Wallonie (Bergen)

De geschiedenis van hippodrooms in België omvat een aantal belangrijke locaties en periodes. De hippodroom van Bosvoorde, geopend in 1880, was een prominente renbaan die tot 1995 in gebruik was. De hippodroom van Groenendaal, aangelegd in opdracht van Koning Leopold II, kende een bloeiperiode voor de Eerste Wereldoorlog, met tot vijftig koersen per jaar. Een ander belangrijk voorbeeld is de hippodroom van Bredene, gebouwd in 1923, maar verwoest tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog.

Hippodroom van Bosvoorde (Boitsfort):
Geopend in 1880, gesloten in 1995. Tegenwoordig is het terrein deels een golfterrein en deels een recreatiedomein genaamd D’horM Park.

Hippodroom van Groenendaal:
Aangelegd in de buurt van Brussel, met een unieke rechte mijl baan. De site is nog steeds herkenbaar, maar de grote betonnen tribune is afgebroken.

Hippodroom van Bredene:
Gebouwd in 1923, verwoest in 1941 door de Duitse bezetter.

Hippodroom van Antwerpen:
Geopend in 1903 op de Leopold de Waelplaats, later gesloten in 1958 en gesloopt in de jaren ’70. Het terrein is herontwikkeld door Vooruitzicht tot een nieuwbouwproject genaamd “Hippodroom”.

Hippodrome de Wallonie (Bergen):
Opgericht in 1999, is een multidisciplinaire locatie voor draf- en galoprennen, jumping en een kenniscentrum voor paarden.

Hippodrooms, afgeleid van het Griekse “hippódromos”, waren oorspronkelijk plaatsen voor paardenrennen en wagenrennen.
In België werden hippodrooms vaak gebouwd in de late 19e en vroege 20e eeuw, met een hoogtepunt in populariteit voor de Eerste Wereldoorlog.

De hippodrooms dienden niet alleen voor sport, maar ook voor sociale evenementen, feesten en amusementsdoeleinden.

Na de Tweede Wereldoorlog namen de populariteit en het gebruik van hippodrooms af, mede door de opkomst van nieuwe vormen van entertainment en media zoals televisie.

Veel hippodroomterreinen zijn herontwikkeld voor andere doeleinden, zoals woningbouw, recreatie of sportfaciliteiten.

In België zijn er nog vijf hippodromen waar drafrennen worden gehouden: de Hippodroom Waregem, de hippodroom van Kuurne, de Jekerhippodroom in Tongeren, de Hippodrome de Wallonie in Ghlin (Mons) en de Wellingtonrenbaan in Oostende.

Laatstgenoemde heropende in het begin van de zomer van 2012 de poorten voor draf- en galoprennen na verbouwingswerken aan de tribune. De Brusselse hippodroom van Sterrebeek ging failliet in 2002 en sloot in 2005 definitief de deuren.

De oudste hippodroom van België is de Wellingtonrenbaan in Oostende, die werd aangelegd in 1883. Er was weliswaar al eerder een hippodroom in Brussel, maar de renbaan in Oostende is de oudste die nog steeds in gebruik is.

Hier is wat meer informatie:

Wellingtonrenbaan, Oostende:
Deze hippodroom werd ontworpen door de belle-époque-architect Antoine Dujardin.
Renbaan van Bosvoorde, Brussel:
Deze renbaan opende in 1880 en is inmiddels gesloten, maar de gebouwen zijn gerenoveerd en het terrein wordt nu gebruikt als golfterrein.

Hippodroom van Groenendaal, Hoeilaart:
Deze hippodroom opende in 1888 en was een initiatief van koning Leopold II. De renbaan is niet meer in gebruik, maar het koninklijk paviljoen is gerenoveerd en behouden gebleven.

Hippodroom van Waregem:
Deze hippodroom is bekend om zijn steeplechase, de Grote Steeplechase van Vlaanderen, die deel uitmaakt van de Waregem Koerse.

MVRDV - Expo 2000 Hannover

© Alan Cuypers | Hippodrome Groenendaal

1830

Establishment of Belgium

04.10.1830

Episode of the Belgian Revolution of 1830, Gustaf Wappers

1880

Bosvoorde Hippodrome

Bosvoorde, Belgium | This horse racing track openend in 1880. For reference; the Kingdom of Belgium exists since 1830. So 50 years later the interest in horse racing started to pop up in the country.

1887

Groenendaal Hippodrome

Groenendaal, Belgium | Due to the findings of king Leopold II of Belgium, he ordered a new and bigger horse racing track near Brussels in the Sonian Forest. The track at Bosvoorde from 1880 was too petite for him and so they constructed. It had too sharp corners and was too small of a track to be called “royal”.

Hippodrome Groenendaal had to have a total length of 3,6 kilometres and the first race took place on 22 July 1889. The hippodrome was run by Société royale d’encouragement pour l’amélioration des races de chevaux en Belgique (SRE).

A new straight track of 1600 metres was added in 1893, unique in Belgium at that time.

In 1910 a third track, consisting of a separate figure-eight obstacle course, added to the venue resulted in 9 kilometres of race length. 

Next to the tribune is the Royal Lodge, built in 1924.

1883

Wellington Hippodrome

Hippodrome Wellington is a horse racing track named after Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. Built in 1883 by Belle Epoque-architect Antoine Dujardin. The hippodrome was renovated in 2011.

Napoleon ordered a fortress on this site in the year 1811-1812 with the name Fort Royal, but unfortunately it wasn’t completed before he fell.

werd meermaals de zomerbestemming voor koning Leopold II en de rest van de koninklijke familie. De koning gaf samen met de hertog van Wellington het startschot voor de eerste officiële paardenren datzelfde jaar.

Aceg Wellington Hippodroom
Koningin Astridlaan 10
8400 Oostende

ostendseaplace.be

Groenendaal Hippodrome

© Photos | Alan Cuypers

Hippodrome of Wellington

© Photos | Archief Stad Oostende

The Tribune

The Stables

Prison H15

Prison H15

Prison H15

Centre pénitentiaire de Lille-Loos-Sequedin

→ 2024.03.23 – 2024.04.12

Prison H15

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Not just a random prison

Loos-Lille prison is the better-known name, although was let’s say. It is completely demolished today.

This prison closed in 2011, originally there was a monastery on the site, but turned into a prison in the 19ᵗʰ century. 1500 Inmates was the max. capacity. It had a wing for both men and women.

We visited this interesting prison twice in 2014 and we found it astonishing to explore.

Zettlab AI NAS D8 Ultra

© Prison H15 | door locks

Belgian club Zillion continues to live

Belgian club Zillion continues to live

Zillion Achterkant Gebouw

01

The Idea Behind Zillion

Once a man called “Frank V.” got kicked out of the well-known night club Carré due to reasons we all know they’re not very great, but thanks to this he decided to create his own night club or discotheek we like to call it here. With a magnificant technical infrastructur never seen before and he succeeded achieving this.

It was in 1996 when that very man and his business partners bought the sports hall “Going out” at the Jan Van Gentstraat 4 in Antwerp city. A year later construction finished and the club opened its doors on 16 October 1997.

He implemented impressive light shows with industrial laser systems and scanners.

Zillion Entrance Stairs - Ingang Trappen

© Photo by Alan C.

02

International Fame

This mighty dance temple became instantly popular throughout Belgium, the Benelux and also eastern Europe. From the very start it attracted a lot of big media coverage and local shows where held here.

Even the restrooms were used in a video clip by the Dutch band the Vengaboys called “Boom, Boom, Boom“.

Zillion Restrooms
Zillion Restrooms Reflection in mirror
Zillion Restrooms

© Photos by Alan C.

03

Its Impressive Mechanics

As a matter of fact we are not really into clubbing and night life in general, but we do like to read about local history despite not always being a very good one. We love exploring old and abandoned sites, just like this one and capture its interior for our ever-growing archive.

People will love to see these photos once again and by this medium we try to bring back the many memories this club created for thousands of people who enjoyed the nightlife in Antwerp city of Belgium.

Zillion met spinning heads

© Photo by Hannes H.

04

Memoires

As a matter of fact we are not really into clubbing and night life in general, but we do like to read about local history despite not always being a very good one. We love exploring old and abandoned sites, just like this one and capture its interior for our ever-growing archive.

People will love to see these photos once again and by this medium we try to bring back the many memories this club created for thousands of people who enjoyed the nightlife in Antwerp city of Belgium.

© Photo collection from Zillion

05

Parties @ Zillion

48 Hours

None-stop Pure goodness.

During its peak around 5000 visitors came to party at Zillion every weekend. It was a great success.

People came from Belgium, The Netherlands, Europe and later on from every corner around the world just to see this place alone.

Zillion became famous for its long 4-hours parties like this one in the weekend of 19 December 2003, Zillion Reunion.

Tickets were sold at € 15,-
And minimum age was 18.

Zillion Reunion Party December 2003

Xmas Party

Survival of the fittest.

We found this invitation at Zillion during our visit, but we are not sure if this party ever existed.

If someone knows if it did. Let us know in the comments below…

FOU was the man himself, the owner of the Zillion, also known as Frank.

Zillion Xmas Party December 2004

06

Zillion Documentary

Nightlife isn’t always safe for everyone.

It comes with many attention and media coverage in case things go not as planned and just like this man hit the news for all sorts of things.

He even admits that he could land in jail if things went really bad.

The unfortunate events happened after all and his business had to close.

© Youtube | Zillion Documentary by Dirk leestmans

© Youtube | Memories @ Club ZILLION Antwerp ( retrohouse )

07

Zillion Merch

Zillion was all about merchandise, just like these couple stickers we found during our visit in July 2015.

Zillion Stickers Merch

© Zillion Merch

08

Zillion Tour

We were lucky enough to gain access to the Zillion thanks to a good friend. We have seen many rooms, but far from everything as it was a huge complex and also pitch-black dark. It was made impossible to enter and sunlight didn’t even go in an inch.

We used our flashlights and took long-exposure shots with our cameras. It was well worth the visit as we were born and raised not very far from this place, although we have never ever placed a foot inside this club. Especially abandoned buildings are our favorites. Hence the interest to see this place when there’s no people nor activity inside.

Time went by and so did this massive dance club and in 2017 it was demolished to make space for “The Residence” building and a gas station in the Jan Van Gentstraat.

© Photos by Alan C. | 04/07/2015

09

Zillion Photo Album

Let’s take a look inside.

Unfortunately we didn’t see every single room or corridor of the whole complex. It was a very warm day in Antwerp and we arrived at the side entrance where the goods went in. Packed with our cameras, flashlights and tripods we opened the locked gate and went inside. Merchandise could be found anywhere as soon as we came in. Some still in good condition and made it to my house as a souvenir.

Too bad we didn’t film our footsteps and we only took photos, video simply gives your explores another dimension and much more memory for later use. The complex was huge and creapy at the same time. Darkness is a hard and scary thing, although our flashlights helped us see where we placed our feet. Rubbish, papers, equipment, electrical wires and other stuff were lying around everywhere.

Luckily we could see a safe floor to walk on as an abandoned omplex can be a little dangerous sometimes, we are very careful with what we do. Always, everytime!

© All photos by Alan C. | 04/07/2015

10

Zillion Film

Zillion’s name resonates in meany people’s heads and it didn’t take much creativity to start making a film about its past. The Covid-19 pandemic slowed down the initial start of the production of the movie as it was originally planned for 2020. As of August 2021 the production could finally start.

Alan got the chance to play some minor extra roles in a couple TV series shot in Belgium and when he saw the word Zillion pop up on the “in the picture” website he immediately jumped right in and applied for a role.

It was so cool to be part of the set as a visitor and dance monkey of the Zillion club. He’s so lucky to have witnessed the production process of such a intriguing story of the not-so-far-from-his-door dance club Zillion.

Expected feature release date is October 2022.

Link to the IMDB page can be found here.

© Zillion Film Cast Reveal | 27/02/2020

11

Ice Cream

As a matter of fact we are not really into clubbing and night life in general, but we do like to read about local history despite not always being a very good one. We love exploring old and abandoned sites, just like this one to capture its interior for our ever-growing unique archive.

People will love to see these photos once again and by this medium we try to bring back the many memories this club created for thousands of people who enjoyed the nightlife in Antwerp, Belgium.

The boss of Zillion “Frank Verstraeten” started his career in 1989 by opening an electronic equipment shop  in his parents’ home town Sint-Brixius-Rode. It went bankrupt in 1995 after illegal activities broke his business down. Meanwhile in the same village his parents ran an ice cream parlour, which was a family business for decades. His brother continous their work and we did love the special taste of the ice cream a lot. We highly recommend visiting Brixius, you won’t regret it.

Frank was someone who loved nightlife like no other until he got kicket out of dance club Carré in Willebroek. From there he decided to open his own dance temple called Zillion.

Brixius Ice Cream - Coupe Zevende Hemel

© Brixius – Coupe Zevende Hemel

Brixius Ice Cream - Coupe Amarena Krieken

© Brixius – Coupe Amarena

Brixius For My Birthday 2021

© Celebrating Alan’s birthday at Brixius

12

Keeping History Alive

All we try to do is keeping bits and pieces of history alive through photos.

It takes a lot of research about all the places that we explore and not every detail might be correct or as accurate as in real life. Often history is forgotten or lost or deleted for all sorts of reason, that’s why we cannot guarantee that everything we right is correct. We apologize if something is incorrect, so please correct us if this is the case!

Please, leave a comment or email us at info@twin-rhino.be with the correct information and we will update this blog accordingly.

Twin Rhino | Alan Cuypers

Zillion seen from main stage - 2015

© Alan & Hannes

Have you ever been to Zillion?

Share in the comments section below!

What are your experiences with club Zillion?

What are your thoughts about life inside the Zillion? What did you like and what didn’t you like about it?

From what country where you from?

Which other club do you like most? In which country is it located and what is the music style?

Share your story in the comments below! 😎

The Time When Mushrooms Grew Underground In Belgium

The Time When Mushrooms Grew Underground In Belgium

Preserving History – Remember The Time When People Grew

Mushrooms Underground In Belgium?

By Alan & A Good Friend | A Belgian Duo

MVRDV - Expo 2000 Hannover

© Alan Cuypers | Mine Shaft

A Good Friend

And not just a friend.

It wasn’t just by coincidence that we met in the first place! We were as a matter of fact working for one and the same company, although not at the same office and only 65 kilometers away we did got to know each other after all.

It was because of the internal magazine from ENGIE Axima that brought me to him. I mentioned my love for urban exploration and this meant that I had another friend to explore abandoned places with. Yay! 😃

He, the person in question, wrote me an email with subject: Vu dans le Blablaxi, date: 19 September 2011, and even pictures from his favourite explores.

Quote: “Salut collègue.

Désolé mais je ne parle pas un mot de flamand, mais si tu veux que je te parle en anglais, je devrais pouvoir me débrouiller.

Tout ça pour te dire que une de mes passions c’est la photo industrielle (genre site derelicta ou forbidden places) et aussi la photo nocturne en pose (de sites abandonnés ou d’industries métallurgiques).

Une autre c’est la visite de mines souterraines (avec mon appareil photo bien sûr).

Je ne faits quasi plus de varappe mais j’aime encore bien faire une belle descente en rappel ou une via ferrata et bien sûr de la randonnée à la journée.

Bien a toi et serai heureux de te rencontrer à la remise des vœux de Pissens au mois de janvier.”

He became my tutor when it came down to knowledge, he knew so much about all these derelict places. Places like military bunkers from WOI and WOII, as well as industrial plants like steel manufacturing sites.

Really! Thank you! I mean, I felt so honored that someone out there at the other side of Belgium read my short interview presenting myself in the internal magazine of the company. It was crazy and I was so psyched. And that even in another language!

My hobby wasn’t so famous as it later became and photography isn’t a practice that gets a lot of attention as well. Although it should get more rewarded and respected because to me a photo isn’t just a photo. It is a moment or object or anything really captured on camera which could potentially freeze time forever.

Photography is magical as these captured photos can be picked up again from the (dusty) shelve or from your hard drive on the PC and you can look at them for hours to come where beautiful memories can be brought back to life once again.

One can make a photo album or print a picture and hang it on the wall or even use it as your favourite background on your PC or smartphone.

To me taking photos means protecting any kind of memory in time stored forever in the palm of your hands.

MVRDV - Expo 2000 Hannover

Van Damme Quarry Ciply by Alan Cuypers

Underground

Why we want to explore beneath our surface?

It can perfectly being said that we humans have built many things on our planet, both above ground and underground. For all sorts of reasons we have considerably altered the face of our surface, be it in a good or bad way, we changed it according to our needs, experiments, unfortunate events or bad habbits. You name it, we changed it and it can’t always be undone.

Above ground it’s easy, we only need to keep in mind that gravity is a real thing.

Underground there’s also gravity, but also other things to keep in mind. The soil can be wet, cold, hot, muddy, dry, it can even shake and collapse which could leave huge sinkholes all the way to the surface.

This time I will talk more in depth about underground activities and why they can be very beneficial to us.

Resources

Mother Earth is a resource-rich planet which could serve our needs for many years to come, although sometimes these vulnerable resources are rather hard to reach or difficult to extract and process.

Today, I will bring you only a handful of meters below the surface where massive mazes of human activity carved their memories in the ground for a lifetime to come.

Belgium is rich in chalk, clay, pig iron and many more resources from the underground world. We explored just a small fraction of what once was a very big booming industry of mining.

Although I do am very satisfied with the chance of being stood there, under the surface away from the sun, for just a couple of hours. This experience was already enough to fulfil my dreams as an urban  explorer.

The Brick

Quarry

Mushrooms

Why growing mushrooms underground?

Industrialization brouth people to the cities where work was and where people could earn enough to support their hungry families in the countryside. Today isn’t any different. We have our cities and farmlands and for some it is a beautiful sanctuary somewhere in a hot place where they work an online job and can relax at the same time. Today and in the future we’re growing towards a digital online world, but for most of our products we still need agricultural and industrial factories. Aren’t we right?

Meanwhile underground everything was empty and excavated by many men. Rock formations were split open by either dynamite, immense machinery or hand-crafted tools and these tunnels formed huge underground galleries which eventually could still be used as a second purpose.

And so these quarries were also considered practical for growing mushrooms. Rows of mushroom beds were made with the help of horse poo or compost as a fertiliser and in the picture below this practice can still be found today.

MVRDV - Expo 2000 Hannover

© Alan Cuypers | 23/12/2016 @ 16:42 | Canon EOS 5D Mark III | f/8 | 25 sec. | Mushroom beds at the Van Damme Quarry, Ciply Belgium

Underground

Network

Rediscovering Possibilities

What are we going to rediscover?

Managed quarries

To my surprise there was still active water pumping going on in some visited quarries, of course, otherwise the quarry would have been completely flooded by rainwater. If it were flooded the mine wouldn’t be still accessible to us.

Although these mines are actually forbidden to enter, I was guided by an expert who explored many mines before. Deep underground and open-pit ones alike.

We knew what we were doing and we did it carefully.

So, what did we rediscover?

The Rediscovery

Equipment was in some of them still there and ready to use at any given moment. Fresh truck tracks leading in the angled mine were a sign of recent life inside this rocky cave where water was being pumped out.

These scenes gave us beautiful pictures as a result.

Small lakes can be seen here and we remind you to not dare to take a swim in it as it can be very cold water and it isn’t the best water to swim in.

Small volcanoes under the water can be seen, which was a very cool sight, I admit.

The crystal clear water was perfect to photograph and the ground beneath it could be seen from afar.

Be sure to bring enough light in case you want to enter this exquisite underground maze of tunnels!

MVRDV - Expo 2000 Hannover
MVRDV - Expo 2000 Hannover
MVRDV - Expo 2000 Hannover
MVRDV - Expo 2000 Hannover

A Greener

Future

A Greener Future

Nobody wants a dark future! Right?

Ecological struggle

Currently, there are only a handful of small start-ups that invest their piggy savings 🐖 into greener and more efficient life-oriented industries like farming and transportation from the farm field to the consumer.

How hard we’re all trying to conquer the ecological strugle this world comes with, we can only do even more to help protect us from our doomsday that might come sooner rather than later.

Although we’re not trying to be less optimistic here, we’re supporting businesses who try to make our lives better. And so can we!

But how?

By supporting local produce or growing your own vegetables and fruits. Yes, this is possible and completely safe to do, plus you help our beloved planet to survive even longer. It’s a win-win situation for you and us.

Take this amazing company for example, PlantLab 🌱, a startu-up business from The Netherlands is doing everything it can to go global and they’ve reached the US with one plant launched in December of 2020.

They are doing an amazing job 😊

MVRDV - Expo 2000 Hannover

© PlantLab ‘s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands

GO GREEN or GO HOME

How are we helping?

One of us, that’s Alan, loves to read about all things with better environmental impact which could only benefit us in the right way possible.

Yes, friends, there are solutions to our global threats out there. We only need to go big on this one and we will succeed! 💪

The answer to this is BAMBOO.

We understand and know it grows like crazy, we have tested this ourselves and have proof. There is an extensive blog about this in the making!

Benefits of bamboo

 

One can manage without eating flesh; but one cannot manage without the bamboo.

Su Dongpo, Song Dynasty poet

Flowers of Hong Kong

© Alan Cuypers | Flowers in Hong Kong