Buildings in Belgium

1962: Birth Centenary of Victor Horta (Design/Engraver - Jean De Bast)

What better place to start than the house and workshop of Victor Horta (now a museum) one of the founders of Art Nouveau in the 1890s. It forms with three other town houses in Brussels a UNESCO designated world heritage site of human genius under the heading Major Town Houses of the Architect Victor Horta.

1966: Tourist Publicity II (Design - Herman Verbaere)

As a contrast here is the ancient and mighty bulk of the 10th Century Bouillon Castle built on a rocky ridge by a sharp bend of the Semois River. Cut into the rock face, deep damp dungeons and a drawbridge entrance, everything one might want of a castle, unless one had to live in it. The next view is the rococo 18th Century Lier Town Hall which integrates an older structure of a belfry dated 1369, one of 32 belfries throughout the region which are drawn together as part of the UNESCO heritage site 'Belfries of Belgium and France'. Another of those belfries

1978: Europa -Architecture (Design - Oscar Bonnevalle)

is here.  The123 foot tower on the Cathedral of Our Lady which dominates the skyline of Antwerp and if you stand in the square at the right time another treat is to hear the clock carillon. 

1967: Tourist Publicity III (Design - H. Verbaere; Engraver - Henri De Cuyper)

Next we have Spontin Castle whose main tower was built in the 13th Century but in the late 16th Century a major overhaul took place, windows were drilled into the structure and part of the fortifications demolished and it was transformed into a home or chateau, the interior  was altered through the centuries.  Today according to Wikipedia it is "in a precarious state of neglect".  Presumably when it was chosen as a stamp subject it was in a much better shape 

2017: Europa - Palaces and Castles (Design - Kris Nauwelaerts and Kri Maes)

but its fairy tale towers still resonate because this imaginary sand castle is built up from details of 5 existing castles one of which is Spontin seen on the previous stamp (the others in the sandcastle are Gaasbeek, Colonster, Alden Biesen and Antoing).  Touching the stamp sheet is just like returning from the beach and as we know sand gets everywhere so there is a rough sand-grain effect on the surface on the stamp sheet.

This week's Sunday Stamps II prompt is the Letter B - for Belgium and Buildings - more Bs at See It On A Postcard