Forgotten Beauty

The history of this domein in Hofstade  starts in the year 1910. Because more people where using the train, the national railway company wanted to add a new line for freight trains. For safety of motorways and the Leuven canal the railway is placed on an elevated bank. The ground to build the banks is taken from the lands south of Hofstade. The work  stopped in 1912 when the First World War started. During these years the digged holes filled with water creating two lakes. After the war the digging continued and the lakes grew.

In the 1920 the domain became a touristic paradise. More and more people went there in warm summers to search for cool water. In 1925 the city of Mechelen claimed the lakes; they needed them to provide the city of water. The lakes were fenced off and armed guards protected the place.

It took until 1933 before the domain got public again. A private company run the place and opened a small beach and some catering buildings around it. The following years the place got busier every day,  about 35.000 people enjoyed the beach on a sunny day.

The open air swimming pool was built on the old beach. The pool is 100 by 50 meter and was 1.60 meters deep. This open air pool was the biggest in Europe for several years.

Today the domain is still used for sport and recreation by a organisation named Bloso, but the glory years are  gone. The swimming pool got abandoned in 1990 when the new beach opened. Now the  fresh blue tiles took place for grey concrete with dark dirty water, a sad ending for a place that brought so much joy.

Go to the gallery