This crypt was one of the first things I ever saw on urbex websites nearly 20 years ago. Reports dried up and everyone forgot about it. Then while on a family holiday last month, completely be accident I walked past it, our Airbnb was literally yards away!
It’s the oldest “functioning” (we’ll come to that) cemetery in Belgium, and is the resting place of the Belgian Royal Family. Why wasn’t that in the Airbnb listing!
The royal graves date back to 1831 nearly 200 years ago and also has the original cast of Rodins famous ‘Thinker’ statue. It was bought by an art collector (Josef Dillen) and used as his own memorial. Bling.
The place is HUGE, and the corridors are endless, and asylum like:
So what this crypt is infamously better known for is it’s…err… exploding coffins! A lot of them were sealed very tight, and often their ‘burper valves’ which will allow the safe escape of decomposition gas have become clogged – Causing coffins to literally explode, with enough force to smash the granite memorial slabs clean off the front of the tombs.
As well as evidence of explosions, I found a lot of... seepage...
It was a beautiful summers day when I visited, and it was beautifully cool down in the crypt, and was also very nicely lit by a series of glass blocks in the roof, which you can see as you’re walking round the cemetery.
I went on a weekday, in the middle of the day and was the only visitor in the whole cemetery. I felt fairy safe down there, but didn’t dwell too long at the end of dead-end corridor (pun intended) as the place does get inhabited by junkies, who are rumoured to collect phone and camera taxes.
Down in the crypt is also the tomb of Emile Bockstael, I’d never heard of him either, but he was an engineer and liberal politician, so sounds a good guy, but he must have been a big deal as the Metro station nearby is named after him.
Allegedly, the place is being renovated and extended, but when I put these photos on my FB, people commented that it looked exactly the same as it did 15 years ago.
Well worth a visit if you’re passing.
Thank for reading.
It’s the oldest “functioning” (we’ll come to that) cemetery in Belgium, and is the resting place of the Belgian Royal Family. Why wasn’t that in the Airbnb listing!
The royal graves date back to 1831 nearly 200 years ago and also has the original cast of Rodins famous ‘Thinker’ statue. It was bought by an art collector (Josef Dillen) and used as his own memorial. Bling.
The place is HUGE, and the corridors are endless, and asylum like:
So what this crypt is infamously better known for is it’s…err… exploding coffins! A lot of them were sealed very tight, and often their ‘burper valves’ which will allow the safe escape of decomposition gas have become clogged – Causing coffins to literally explode, with enough force to smash the granite memorial slabs clean off the front of the tombs.
As well as evidence of explosions, I found a lot of... seepage...
It was a beautiful summers day when I visited, and it was beautifully cool down in the crypt, and was also very nicely lit by a series of glass blocks in the roof, which you can see as you’re walking round the cemetery.
I went on a weekday, in the middle of the day and was the only visitor in the whole cemetery. I felt fairy safe down there, but didn’t dwell too long at the end of dead-end corridor (pun intended) as the place does get inhabited by junkies, who are rumoured to collect phone and camera taxes.
Down in the crypt is also the tomb of Emile Bockstael, I’d never heard of him either, but he was an engineer and liberal politician, so sounds a good guy, but he must have been a big deal as the Metro station nearby is named after him.
Allegedly, the place is being renovated and extended, but when I put these photos on my FB, people commented that it looked exactly the same as it did 15 years ago.
Well worth a visit if you’re passing.
Thank for reading.
