A Belgian night club so famous it got its history poured into a film; Zillion.

A Belgian night club so famous it got its history poured into a film; Zillion.

© Brixius – Coupe Amarena

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 Cuypers

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 Cuypers

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 Hulstaert

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 Cuypers | 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!

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! 😎

Preserving History – Remember The Time When People Grew Mushrooms Underground In Belgium

Preserving History – Remember The Time When People Grew Mushrooms 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

Holland creates space | MVRDV – Expo 2000

Holland creates space | MVRDV – Expo 2000

MRDV-EXPO-2000 Germany Hannover 2014

MVRDV

What does it stand for?

MVRDV is an acronym for the founding members of the architecture and design practice with the same name: Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries.

Founded in 1993 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Current offices with 250 employees are located in Rotterdam, Shanghai and Paris.

Check out their amazing creations, click here to learn more.

Expo

2000

The Netherlands

Pavilion

Expo 2000

A world’s fair

World’s fairs or world fairs haven been in existance for quite a long time and can be officially traced back to The Great Exhibition of 1851 in London where the Crystal Palace was made out of cast iron and glass by architect Sir Joseph Paxton.

These fairs, or World Expos as we modern Europeans call it, are designed to showcase a nation’s achievement through architectural pavilions. Participants of the World Expos usually build their own pavilions and are thereby the most expensive exhibitions out there.

In the year 2000, the World Expo was held in Hanover, Germany from Thursday 1 June to Tuesday 31 October 2000. For this event the Hanover Fairground (Messegelände Hannover) was chosen, which was originally a place where military aircraft were created.

At the Expo 2000 were 40 million visitors expected but a mere half appeared at the event and it unfortunately became a flop and financial failure as a result. Nevertheless the Dutch pavilion present at the exhibition seemed to be very successful for the Dutch Economy despite a generally failed expo at the time.

MRDV-EXPO-2000 Germany Hannover 2014

Dutch

Open-mindedness

Flat

Landscapes

Our Visit

Another perspective

As Alan’s friend Hannes was studying architecture in Antwerp at the moment of their travel they planned their trips to fulfull their needs with either empty buildings or architectural highlights in places less explored. They visited Berlin 2 years earlier in April 2012 when they had seen leftovers of the winter’s snow and took father’s tent to accommodate their nights to make their trip a little less expensive.

Yes, that’s the way they loved travelling, but now in 2021 we de enjoy a little more comfort and book sweet hotels when travelling afar destinations. Although it’s not me and him that travel very often nowadays, it is now Alan and his lady Lourdes who explore the heart of the Philippines every other year or so.

Back to Hanover 2014, where Alan & Hannes took the car from Antwerp to Germany & Poland to attend a Belgian/Polish family wedding. Our trip lasted about 3 weeks and on our schedule was the Netherlands Pavilion from the Expo 2000 exhibition event located in Hanover.

We well knew it was abandoned for years and that is exactly why we wanted to take a glimpse of this extraordinary building. Just to see with our own eyes what the Dutch had created 14 years earlier.

It was painful to see such an inventive creation to be in such despair and actual state of decay. Vandalists came long before us…

MRDV-EXPO-2000 Germany Hannover 2014

Decay

Urban exploration unsuccessful

In the picture above you can see Alan posing for a photo while sitting near the edge of a huge building in decay.

This is called urban exploration at its best. No guard, no fence, no people, well almost no people, no rules, no nothing. Well, haha, we wish right!

Actually these properties still belong to someone or the government, but are usually left behind unattended and neglected for years. So basically one can freely enter, but beware to enter with caution and great awareness of hidden dangers are always lurking around the corner. Take full responsibility if you want to enter, especially when taking other people with you and we suggest to explore at least with two or even three in case something bad might happen. You never know!

MRDV-EXPO-2000 Germany Hannover 2014

Future Plan

Is it going to be preserved?

Plans are on the table to preserve this creative piece of architecture from the MVRDV team.

But no sketches of it have been shared as of yet.

Its

Future

Spreepark – Der Freizeitpark der DDR! Our squeaking adventure while exploring Berlin.

Spreepark – Der Freizeitpark der DDR! Our squeaking adventure while exploring Berlin.

Spreepark – Der Freizeitpark der DDR!

Our Squeaking Adventure While Exploring Berlin.

By Alan & Hannes | A Belgian & A Belgian

Our Explore

14.07.2014

As we, Alan & Hannes, were invited to attend and also film the marriage of Alan’s 2nd cousin Nicky and Mateusz who is of Polish descent, we planned our trip by car to Poland through Germany with a couple of stops on the road.

First stop, Hanover, Germany, where we checked out the MVRDV building from Expo 2000, which was, off course, inaccessible due to abandonnement and closure of the site. Read the post here.

Second stop, Berlin, also Germany, we found out about the once famous Spreepark, which closed its doors in 2002 and opened in 1969.

We didn’t regret our secret explore of this exciting theme park!
Read on to find out what we came across.

Spreepark Berlin
Spreepark Berlin
Spreepark Berlin
Spreepark Berlin
Spreepark Berlin
Spreepark Berlin
Spreepark Berlin
Spreepark Berlin
Spreepark Berlin

Two Sad Faces

Let’s Face History

It must be said that, at the time of the event, we both were 24 years of age and we were kind of stunned by the fact that a place like this was left behind for more than a decade, just because it went bankrupt as less visitors came to the park.

We didn’t understand quite well where all those kids and parents would go to if they like to enjoy a good theme park likes this.

There’s a lot of amazing cool rides in here, yes, they are a bit old and outfashioned. But when refurbished and with a fresh layer of paint, it would be good enough for many kids out there. At least that’s what we think.

Now, 7 years later, we’re writing about this place and to our surprise the government of Berlin has plans to reopen the park step by step.

Our sad faces turned into happy ones after all.

Spreepark Berlin
Spreepark Berlin
Spreepark Berlin
Spreepark Berlin
Spreepark Berlin
Spreepark Berlin
Spreepark Berlin
Spreepark Berlin

Finding The Ferris Wheel

It Wasn’t That Hard

All of us know that there is a ferris wheel in every theme park in the world and every explore is about finding that first and explore the remaining later. For us, we were in unknown territories as Germany isn’t our country of birth, so we were very cautious and didn’t want to get noticed. So we stayed out of sight most of the time and we had a great amount of fun too.

We’re always psyched about our urban explorations. This “thing” is so much fun, although actually not very nor always legal to trespass a property that still belongs to an individual or city. There’s always an owner who might have guarded their property, or maybe not, but always be careful when considering intruding such big scale of properties as it isn’t always safe to hang out.

Always go with at least two people, so if one gets into trouble for any reason, then the other one can search for help or try to control the situation himself or herself. Advice for the young people out there who love exploring abandoned stuff. People do die in abandoned buildings because they are not careful enough or explore on their own.

Spreepark Berlin
Spreepark Berlin
Spreepark Berlin

Its Location

Treptow-Köpenick, Berlin

The Spreepark is located right next to the Spree river, hence the park’s name. Mitte Berlin, or the heart of the city of Berlin, is located just 7 kilometers away, which makes the park easily reachable for those who want to dive into Berlin’s history or enjoy a relaxing walk in the Plänterwald’s park, where the Spreepark is located.

The park has in fact a whole path around it where one can enjoy the view of the Spree river and the old park at the other side of the fence. Hiking, biking or strolling around with the kids is a very nice activity on a quiet Sunday afternoon.

Spreepark Google Earth
Spreepark Original Map

The Attractions

1969

The GDR built it’s first and ever only Kulturpark in the GDR in 1969.

With the highest attraction being the Ferris Wheel standing tall at a height of 45 meters. This Wheel still spins and makes creepy noises, check out our video here.

Spreepark Berlin

A New Concept

2018-2026

Concept drawings were created in 2018 with the intention to open the park once again in three main stages.

From 2022, the Eierhäuschen (Egg House) will be open for the public, then, in 2024 the area around the ferris wheel will be accessible, and at last but not least, in 2026 the entire Spreepark will be completed.

All five stages are properly explained on the website of the Spreepark, which you can check out here.

Spreepark Berlin
Spreepark Berlin
Spreepark Berlin
Spreepark Berlin

The Official Website

2021

Check out the Spreepark’s official website here or https://www.spreepark.berlin/en/.

Now you can officially visit the park with prices at € 5 for adults & € 3 for children from 6 to 14 years old.

Get your tickets here.

Spreepark Berlin
Achterbahn „Spreeblitz“ - Rollercoaster Spreepark
Spreepark Berlin
Spreepark Berlin
Spreepark Berlin
Spreepark Berlin
Spreepark Berlin