Author: Editor

The term sehnsucht still regularly crops up in different languages. The German word is difficult to translate and actually has no equivalent in the English language. What does it mean?

In the Bible book of Daniel it can be read that during a feast of the Babylonian king Belshazzar a proverb suddenly appears on the wall. Everyone sees the text. It says Mene mene tekel upharsin. However, no one knows what this spell means. Only the Jewish exile Daniel can explain the text.

On July 31, 1667, the Treaty of Breda was signed in the Great Hall of the Castle in Breda. This treaty between the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands, England, France and Denmark ended the Second Anglo-Dutch War .

The international diving group Badewanne has discovered the year from which the unique shipwreck that lies at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. The wreck of a Dutch flute ship was found last year at a depth of 85 meters and is extremely well preserved.

The discovery was made along the Wolferen-Sprok dyke improvement route. The road and canal are about two thousand years old and were built and used by the Roman army.

The northern ‘Limes’ (the Latin word for border) of the Roman Empire ran through the Netherlands two thousand years ago, along the Rhine. To protect this border – part of the longer border through Europe , Asia and North Africa – Romans built watchtowers and army camps here.

American university teacher Hiram Bingham III (1875-1956) became known as the discoverer of the world-famous Inca city of Machu Picchu in Peru. When he ‘discovered’ the city on July 24, 1911, he was given a tour by a number of Peruvians who had lived in the area around the Inca city for some time. Machu Picchu was nothing new to these locals.

The twenty-first of July is the National Day of Belgium. On that day, shops and post offices are closed and the country commemorates the fact that on that day in 1831 the first king of Belgium, Leopold I , took the constitutional oath.

The myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is one of the most famous love stories in world literature. The tragic story has been described by both Ovid and Virgil.

De Cypriotische prins Pygmalion is bekend dankzij de Romeinse dichter Ovidius. In zijn Metamorfosen beschrijft hij hoe deze beroemde beeldhouwer op een dag verliefd werd op een van zijn eigen creaties.