{"id":48364,"date":"2021-03-17T12:53:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-17T12:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/ix-seven-impressive-misses\/"},"modified":"2021-03-17T12:53:00","modified_gmt":"2021-03-17T12:53:00","slug":"ix-seven-impressive-misses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/en\/ix-seven-impressive-misses\/","title":{"rendered":"IX  Seven impressive Misses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&lt;&lt; VIII <a href=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/en\/viii-spare-little-brother\/\">Spare little brother<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"598\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img012-1024x598.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-37867\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img012-1024x598.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img012-300x175.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img012-768x448.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img012-1536x897.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img012-2048x1195.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img012-973x568.jpg 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img012-508x297.jpg 508w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-1 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">standing: Canon Van Buggenhout, &#8230; , Godfried Van Kerckhoven, Margheritha Van Kerckhoven, Arthur Van Kerckhoven, Paul Van Kerckhoven seated: Jos Van Kerckhoven, Elvire Van Kerckhoven, &#8230; , Richard Van Kerckhoven, sister, &#8230; , Clara Van Kerckhoven<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"599\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img013-1024x599.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-37869\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img013-1024x599.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img013-300x175.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img013-768x449.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img013-1536x898.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img013-2048x1197.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img013-973x569.jpg 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img013-508x297.jpg 508w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-2 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Time to get to know in detail Frie\u2019s seven doting aunts, who inflexibly leave a heavy mark on the family of his parents.  Central question: do they dominate out of insecurity, or because of a trauma from the past, or to feel better about themselves?  Who can say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-3 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">The seven daughters attribute nobility of bearing and grandeur to old Herman but are determined not to look after him in his old age. He is \u2018parked\u2019 with Frie\u2019s mother. They leave behind the archaic, patriarchal and Victorian story of the nineteenth century. After the First World War and the Spanish Flu of 1918, a pandemic that wiped out part of the European population, the original roaring twenties follow. Les Demoiselles convert their father\u2019s workshop into a clothing business called \u2018Gezusters Van Kerckhoven\u2019. The sisters deliberately choose to remain independent, not subject to a man. The twenties are typical of the rise of jazz, radio, women\u2019s suffrage and other social upheavals. New radical art movements such as surrealism emerge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-4 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">They all become devout and shrewd businesswomen in Aarschot and Leuven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"642\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-72.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-38361\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-72.png 642w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-72-188x300.png 188w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-72-508x810.png 508w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 642px) 100vw, 642px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-5 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Aarschot, the Demer and the Collegiate Church of Our Lady, built in the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries.  Renowned Gothic choir screen and beautifully carved choir stalls.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-6 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>THE DOTING AUNTS WHO STAY IN AARSCHOT:<\/strong><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/DSCF8285-821x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Deze afbeelding heeft een leeg alt-attribuut; de bestandsnaam is DSCF8285-821x1024.jpg\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-7 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Clara<\/strong> <strong>Van Kerckhoven<\/strong> (1884-1951) <br><br>The figurehead of the aunts always looks impeccable. Yet her name has resonated less than that of other aunts such as Margueritte or Josse. That was because she always worked and was discreet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"960\" height=\"960\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-44.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-28873\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-44.png 960w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-44-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-44-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-44-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-44-88x88.png 88w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-44-508x508.png 508w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-8 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Clara<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color has-large-font-size wp-elements-9 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><br><strong>The forgotten aunt<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/DSCF0976-2k-730x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Deze afbeelding heeft een leeg alt-attribuut; de bestandsnaam is DSCF0976-2k-730x1024.jpg\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-10 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Sylvie<\/strong> <strong>Van Kerckhoven<\/strong> (1878-1949) <br>Meet the upright Sylvie. Her cousin Godfried repeatedly says how deeply humane she was, the embodiment of pure commitment and great joy of life. Sylvie\u2019s life was marked by sacrifice. She was very present in the shop, which had to be kept going. On top of that she spent a large part of her life with a very strict father. War is bad, praying is good: Sylvie went to church every morning and to confession weekly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"926\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-31-926x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-37819\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-31-926x1024.png 926w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-31-271x300.png 271w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-31-768x849.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-31-1389x1536.png 1389w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-31-1852x2048.png 1852w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-31-973x1076.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-31-508x562.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-31.png 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 926px) 100vw, 926px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-11 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Confessional (16th century), Church of Our Lady, Aarschot. If the God-fearing Sylvie forgets to confess a sin, she turns back and joins the long queue again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Vivaldi - Vedr\u00f2 con mio diletto (Jakub J\u00f3zef Orli\u0144ski)\" width=\"620\" height=\"349\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CzF11RsxcWg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"610\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img006-610x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-37855\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img006-610x1024.jpg 610w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img006-179x300.jpg 179w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img006-768x1290.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img006-914x1536.jpg 914w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img006-1219x2048.jpg 1219w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img006-973x1634.jpg 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img006-508x853.jpg 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img006-scaled.jpg 1524w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 610px) 100vw, 610px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"920\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-110-920x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-39739\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-110-920x1024.png 920w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-110-269x300.png 269w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-110-768x855.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-110-1379x1536.png 1379w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-110-973x1083.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-110-508x566.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-110.png 1780w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-12 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Rose bush on the facade of Sylvie\u2019s house, a building originally from the 17th century located in the park of the Ch\u00e2teau de Chantilly.  (photo: 2024)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/IMG_E1197-hdmi-e1592042906556-198x300.jpg\" alt=\"Deze afbeelding heeft een leeg alt-attribuut; de bestandsnaam is IMG_E1197-hdmi-e1592042906556-198x300.jpg\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-13 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Maria Van Kerckhoven<\/strong> (1882-1960)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-14 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Herman and Josephina clearly raised their seven daughters with a hefty dose of independence. The culinary legend Maria is an ordinary woman, practically organised.  In an ode to her, Godfried looks back: \u201cThis aunt cooked for me as if the prince were coming to dinner: top-quality, original ingredients and a sublime method of preparation. <br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color has-large-font-size wp-elements-15 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>An inspired story about my favourite family character<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"696\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2051-1-2k-696x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8454\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2051-1-2k-696x1024.jpg 696w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2051-1-2k-204x300.jpg 204w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2051-1-2k-768x1130.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2051-1-2k-1044x1536.jpg 1044w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2051-1-2k-973x1432.jpg 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2051-1-2k-508x748.jpg 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2051-1-2k.jpg 1359w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 696px) 100vw, 696px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-16 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Provocateur aunt Josse<\/strong> (1899-1983) is bothered by the etiquette in Aarschot. \u201cWhy do girls have to wear a dress? I don\u2019t find it pretty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-17 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"646\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img010-1-1024x646.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-38253\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img010-1-1024x646.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img010-1-300x189.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img010-1-768x485.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img010-1-1536x969.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img010-1-2048x1293.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img010-1-973x614.jpg 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img010-1-508x321.jpg 508w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-18 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>17th-century inner courtyard of the Gasthuis in Aarschot<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-19 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">During the First World War Josse works as a volunteer with the Grey Sisters of the Gasthuis in Aarschot.  Joske scrubs the floor, which is smeared again and again with the blood of the many wounded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-20 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/IMG_E1201-867x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Deze afbeelding heeft een leeg alt-attribuut; de bestandsnaam is IMG_E1201-867x1024.jpg\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color has-normal-font-size wp-elements-21 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Josse Van Kerckhoven<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"709\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_2782-1024x709.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-43179\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_2782-1024x709.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_2782-300x208.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_2782-768x531.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_2782-1536x1063.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_2782-2048x1417.jpeg 2048w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_2782-973x673.jpeg 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_2782-508x352.jpeg 508w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-22 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">shop window in Saint-Germain-des-Pr\u00e9s  (photo: Pieter 2025)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"738\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Josse-VK-img001-modified-738x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-39182\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Josse-VK-img001-modified-738x1024.jpg 738w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Josse-VK-img001-modified-216x300.jpg 216w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Josse-VK-img001-modified-768x1065.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Josse-VK-img001-modified-1107x1536.jpg 1107w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Josse-VK-img001-modified-1476x2048.jpg 1476w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Josse-VK-img001-modified-973x1350.jpg 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Josse-VK-img001-modified-508x705.jpg 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Josse-VK-img001-modified-scaled.jpg 1845w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 738px) 100vw, 738px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-23 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Miss Josse&nbsp;<\/strong> from Aarschot, of whom we shall hear a great deal more.&nbsp;<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"865\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2033-2k-1024x865.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8470\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2033-2k-1024x865.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2033-2k-300x254.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2033-2k-768x649.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2033-2k-1536x1298.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2033-2k-973x822.jpg 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2033-2k-508x429.jpg 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2033-2k.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-24 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Identity card of Josephina <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-25 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">\u201cLa Gar\u00e7onne chic\u201d or \u201cAarschot\u2019s nerve at its best\u201d? Josse wears a man\u2019s suit and so turns \u00d4\u2019schot upside down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"623\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img010-623x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-37863\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img010-623x1024.jpg 623w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img010-182x300.jpg 182w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img010-768x1263.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img010-934x1536.jpg 934w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img010-1245x2048.jpg 1245w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img010-973x1600.jpg 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img010-508x836.jpg 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img010-scaled.jpg 1556w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 623px) 100vw, 623px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-26 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Josse sets out to portray the link between fashion and gender.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-27 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Josse is a notorious figure in Aarschot. Straightforward or ill-mannered, it depends on how you look at it. Funny and moody, Josse speaks \u2018Osschots\u2019. As a woman Josse does not dress according to the prevailing dress code and smokes cigars: rather unheard of in Aarschot. In big European cities gender and identity are more fluid than in the provincial town of Aarschot. Josse has a secret love, a woman from the Tuinwijk. Josse and her friend decide to come out and want to move in together. The family is fiercely opposed and also wants to avoid Josse\u2019s generosity being abused. Tolerance is not the norm when it comes to gay rights. And now, Josse? Against the categorical \u2018njet\u2019 of the Van Kerckhoven family clan Josse can do nothing. She is threatened with legal measures: disinheritance, a psychiatric institution.  The future looks uncertain for Josse. She yields to the pressure and is sadly forced to end the relationship abruptly. With a deep sigh and visible reluctance she accepts the family\u2019s will after all and returns to the caged life at Leuvensestraat number 5. Her mood swings, which are probably a direct consequence of this, cannot be parried. In Aarschot people speak of her in a condescending tone. Yet Josse also receives recognition, for her ideal has remained the same all those years: to commit herself to people who totter above an abyss of poverty. She keeps cheerfully slipping them money, but also pastries, sweets and drinks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_3082.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"683\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-91-683x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-38732\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-91-683x1024.png 683w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-91-200x300.png 200w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-91-768x1152.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-91-973x1460.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-91-508x762.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-91.png 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-28 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>What stands out:<\/strong>  Saint Laurent, Pr\u00eat-\u00e0-porter, spring-summer 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"620\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img016-620x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-37875\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img016-620x1024.jpg 620w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img016-182x300.jpg 182w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img016-768x1269.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img016-930x1536.jpg 930w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img016-1240x2048.jpg 1240w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img016-973x1607.jpg 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img016-508x839.jpg 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img016-scaled.jpg 1550w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-29 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong><br><\/strong>Josse sells belts, hats, berets and gloves, for ladies as well as gentlemen. These are durable and have traditionally been made in hunting colours in Austrian style, without much fuss. In the shop stands a wooden hand for pulling the glove over, so that the glove opens up. Josse uses talc so that the leather gloves slide easily over the hand. She is eager to make off with the takings from the till and to hand them out to people in vulnerable situations. The discontent among her sisters grows and they are forced to lock the till and hide the key. Josse takes the restriction hard. With her own hand she puts her occupation \u2018Trader (female)\u2019 in brackets on her identity card and replaces it with \u2018none\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"656\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-40.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-38027\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-40.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-40-300x192.png 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-40-768x492.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-40-973x623.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-40-508x325.png 508w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-30 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">(1939) <strong>A<\/strong> <strong>postcard from Burgenstock in Switzerland written by Josse and her friend C\u00e9cile<\/strong>.  (Painful) detail:  Fried\u2019s mother is never written to. What is the reason?  Is Tineke van de Meuleberg\u2019s background not good enough?  Godfried claims that his mother has a hard time of it from his seven doting aunts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"851\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-37-1024x851.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-37949\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-37-1024x851.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-37-300x249.png 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-37-768x638.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-37-973x809.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-37-508x422.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-37.png 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-31 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">\u201cFriend Arthur, as you see on the card, we are staying at Burgenstock in Purtz. Hotel. A thousand metres high. A train pulls us steeply up with electricity. &#8211; We walk 40 minutes along the rock; took the lift 125m. (See the card). I squeezed my eyes and my m . . shut with fright!!  Best regards to Paul, Jos, Fried.\u201d &#8211; Josse C\u00e9cile (1939)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"981\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-38-1024x981.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-37951\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-38-1024x981.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-38-300x287.png 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-38-768x736.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-38-973x932.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-38-508x487.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-38.png 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-84-1024x768.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-38635\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-84-1024x768.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-84-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-84-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-84-1536x1152.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-84-973x730.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-84-508x381.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-84.png 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-32 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Burgenstock <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"582\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img017-582x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-37878\" style=\"width:582px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img017-582x1024.jpg 582w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img017-171x300.jpg 171w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img017-768x1351.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img017-873x1536.jpg 873w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img017-1164x2048.jpg 1164w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img017-973x1711.jpg 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img017-508x893.jpg 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img017-scaled.jpg 1456w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 582px) 100vw, 582px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-33 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">in the background on the right the exuberant Canon Van Buggenhout and seated Arthur. left: Bertha and Maria<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"661\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-62-1024x661.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-38194\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-62-1024x661.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-62-300x194.png 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-62-768x496.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-62-973x629.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-62-508x328.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-62.png 1257w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"664\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-85-1024x664.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-38651\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-85-1024x664.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-85-300x194.png 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-85-768x498.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-85-1536x996.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-85-973x631.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-85-508x329.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-85.png 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-34 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Without money and without a suitcase Josse returns from Rome.  She had lavishly given everything away to poor Italians\u2026 .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-35 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">(around 1938) Josse stands up for the gnarled rascal Frie, who resists the molly-coddling of his parents. Josse takes the spoilt brat along to Aarschot fair, Leuven fair and the Zuidfoor in Brussels. On the train Josse hands out cigars to the passengers and a lot of fun is had.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color has-large-font-size wp-elements-36 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Il ne faut \u00e9crire que des choses interdites&#8230; ou n\u2019\u00e9crivez pas!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-37 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">It sounds like a film script, but in Aarschot with Josse it is reality. Josse\u2019s aunt on her mother\u2019s side is married to the M\u00e0kke. \u201cThat one ran the first cinema on the Bonewijk in Aarschot. They are films without sound. The M\u00e0kke sits up above all day and comments on what it is about. In the evening his daughter sits down below at a piano, tinkling quietly while he gives his commentary. My father had already had to shout: \u2018Do play a bit more quietly, please!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-38 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">The hot-tempered M\u00e0kke is a shady figure and steadily abandons his family. He claims to go to Brussels every week to fetch film roles but leads a murky double life in Brussels.  His wife Maria Vermaelen (1872-1954) comes to lament to her sister Josephina (Frie\u2019s grandmother) and often stays with her children with the family of Herman and Josephina Van Kerckhoven. Josephina supports the M\u00e0kke\u2019s wife financially and helps with the upbringing of his children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-39 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">The cinema becomes loss-making and the M\u00e0kke puts a property up for sale, located opposite Frie\u2019s parental home. The buyer is the head of the family, Godfried\u2019s father. To pay off urgent debts the M\u00e0kke asks his cousin Arthur to pay for the house before the deed is executed. Arthur assumes the other\u2019s good faith and pays in cash, without a contract, the full asking price. When the deed is executed Arthur walks into a trap. Convincingly the M\u00e0kke explains that he has received nothing. The swindled party lodges a complaint but cannot put forward any legal ground. Arthur has to put money on the table a second time for the property. After this affair Arthur\u2019s trust in people has dropped sharply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color has-large-font-size wp-elements-40 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Apart from Josse nobody can end the conflict between Arthur and the M\u00e0kke, not even the court<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-41 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">The choleric Josse targets the cheat and publicly squares up to him. During a Saturday evening cinema show a man with a suitcase appears on the screen on an empty station platform. Josse drags the owner right through the screen, she gets up from her cinema seat, hops onto the stage and screams it out in the packed hall: \u201cThere stands the M\u00e0kke, with his suitcase! He\u2019s off again to Brussels for who knows what!\u201d The hall reacts with smirks. Josse snaps at the scoundrel every time she calls after him in the street: <em>\u201d<\/em> \u201c\u2018The M*kke\u2019 can\u2019t cr*p because his b*m is baked shut!\u201d Josse\u2019s distinguished sisters put a hand over their eyes at this embarrassing display. Josse will keep stalking the Makke. He no longer dares to come outside because Josse makes mincemeat of him until he has paid back the house. Arthur can breathe a sigh of relief and claim his money back. Thanks to Josse\u2026 .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-42 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>&#8220;Es kann der Fr\u00f6mmste nicht in Frieden bleiben, wenn es dem b\u00f6sen Nachbar nicht gef\u00e4llt.&#8221; <\/strong>&#8211; Friedrich Schiller<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-43 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">This snowed-under story occupies Pieter\u2019s mind and he gives it a wilful twist. It was repeatedly told by his great-aunts and confirmed by Frie and his brothers. In 1977 Pieter decides to vent his frustrations. He goes to the house of a descendant and smashes the windows, throws the mattresses from the upper floor downstairs, pees on the floor, smashes table and glass services and tips out full pots of paint that are ready for the painter. Hearing the noise, Godfried\u2019s caretaker Marcel comes to see what is going on. Frie is warned and gives him a serious beating. The M\u00e0kke, who is staying in California to buy the \u201cluxury car of the decade; a Seville by Cadillac\u201d not imported into Europe, notices nothing on his return of the extremely out-of-hand revenge because Mia has had everything repaired. \u201cFrom my usually strict Mia I get no scolding at all. &#8211; Pieter \u201cPieter must himself have been the victim of something on the neighbours\u2019 big estate before he did something like that.\u201d \u2013 Mia \u201cThere are little boys who have been through far more than I have.\u201d \u2013 Pieter<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color has-large-font-size wp-elements-44 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Getting happily lost once more in the world of \u201c\u00d4schotse Josse\u201d: the best anecdote of the moment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"883\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-124.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-41032\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-124.png 883w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-124-300x204.png 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-124-768x522.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-124-508x345.png 508w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 883px) 100vw, 883px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-45 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Van den Seylbergh &#8211; landscape &#8211; oil on canvas<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-46 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">(around 1950) AFTER running riot in the Aarschot cinema, the \u201cslightly wilful\u201d Josse has now also struck in the parental home at Leuvensestraat number 5. At the root lies the move of the painter Jacques Van den Seylbergh (1884-1960) from Aarschot to Knokke-Zoute. Van den Seylbergh, who studied at the art academies in Antwerp and Paris, has exhibited solo in recent years in the pearl of the Hageland, but now it is time to scale up. According to Godfried the most beautiful ceiling in Aarschot is the one in the drawing room of his grandparents, attributed to this artist. After his move to the fashionable seaside town Josse wants nothing more to do with the renowned artist and ponders what will happen to that ceiling at home. \u201cIf Aarschot is not chic enough for him, his work needn\u2019t stay stuck to the ceiling here either.\u201d When Godfried goes to visit his aunt Josse, there is nothing for it but to look on in shock as she has had the fairy-tale ceiling painting painted over in white.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color has-large-font-size wp-elements-47 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>An \u00d4\u2019schot character whom Josse knows<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"716\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-106-716x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-39466\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-106-716x1024.png 716w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-106-210x300.png 210w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-106-768x1098.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-106-508x726.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-106.png 911w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 716px) 100vw, 716px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-48 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Jacques soep<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-49 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">On the Bonewijk, directly opposite the Van Triecht butcher\u2019s, there is a caf\u00e9. Fresh soup is cooked there daily. A couple drives around with it in a car with a little bell on the roof that tinkles\u2026 . Every morning you can get different soups. Mmm, delicious!  People then come outside with their little pan. Besides tomato soup they always have other variants, prepared with fresh local ingredients and lots of vegetables. \u2018Jacques soep\u2019 has been delivering warm, tasty and healthy soups to your door for more than twenty years. * Note in the photo how neatly and elegantly the people are dressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-50 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Listen to an Aarschot dialect pub chat (2025):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/VIDEO-2025-03-17-13-25-25.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color has-large-font-size wp-elements-51 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>No news in \u00d4\u2019schot?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-52 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">\u201cMy father set great store by my news from Aarschot. Hence anecdotes and characters here and there that actually have nothing to do with our family. \u2018No news in \u00d4\u2019schot? Sit down and tell me something more!\u2019 &#8211; Godfried My uncle Paul and godmother Leentje craved the same explanations, preferably in \u2018broad \u00d4\u2019schots\u2019. Seated in bergere armchairs in chalk-coloured \u2018velours de lin\u2019, constantly crying with laughter.\u201d &#8211; Pieter tells<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color has-large-font-size wp-elements-53 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Aarschot<\/strong> <strong>Josse does not shy away from taking on<\/strong> &#8220;<strong>Haute Couture Harry<\/strong>&#8221; <strong>&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"688\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-117.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-40433\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-117.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-117-300x202.png 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-117-768x516.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-117-973x654.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-117-508x341.png 508w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-54 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Haute Couture Harry &#8211; Martelaerenstraat &#8211; (photo 1969)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color has-normal-font-size wp-elements-55 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">The decadent display of wealth in a world of inequality by neighbour \u201cHaute Couture Harry\u201d does not sit well with Josse.  Harry is put on the liberals\u2019 electoral list.  To get elected at all costs, the exuberant Harry spends a fortune on campaigning, such as a gigantic evening party, a procession through the town, and he has tubes bearing his name placed here and there.  Secretly Josse removes a few of those tubes and hides them. Unfortunately Harry does not reach the electoral threshold.  But that is what Josse had been waiting for\u2026 .  The day after the elections she drags the tubes to Harry\u2019s glamorous bridal shop.  Josse swings open the shop door, throws the tubes through the showroom and shouts it out: \u201cHere you go, boy, you\u2019ve been \u2018tubed\u2019!\u201d (you have failed) Yet another commotion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color has-normal-font-size wp-elements-56 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>&#8220;Les folies, c&#8217;est toujours pareil, d\u00e8s qu&#8217;on a ce qu&#8217;on voulait, on se demande un peu pourquoi on l&#8217;a voulu.&#8221; <\/strong>&#8211; Marcel Pagnol<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-57 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>EXCLUSIVE<\/strong>  (1969) The next fuss takes place at niece Geertrui\u2019s. She is celebrating her \u2018sweet sixteen\u2019 and dreams, like many of her peers, of a scooter. Paul has always stressed that his children should have as normal a youth as possible. A scooter is therefore not part of it. The secondary school is around the corner and Paul does not want her to receive preferential treatment just because she happens to be the doctor\u2019s daughter. Yet the next day a scooter is delivered for Geertrui. Domineering aunt Josse has something to do with that. Deliberately Geertrui asks aunt Josse to interfere: \u201cMy dear man, really. We\u2019ll go and have a word with that strict doctor.\u201d Josse shakes Paul down: \u201cPaul! You\u2019re buying a moped for that child today!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-58 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"786\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img028-1-786x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-38277\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img028-1-786x1024.jpg 786w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img028-1-230x300.jpg 230w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img028-1-768x1001.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img028-1-1179x1536.jpg 1179w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img028-1-1572x2048.jpg 1572w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img028-1-973x1268.jpg 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img028-1-508x662.jpg 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img028-1-scaled.jpg 1965w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 786px) 100vw, 786px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-59 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>LOOK Funny picture:<\/strong> Josse pops up and purses her lips.  Whether she is trying to imitate Mia is not clear, but it does produce the funny picture above. (photo: 1964)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/IMG_4040-scaled-e1597053762700-1024x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8228\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/IMG_4040-scaled-e1597053762700-1024x533.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/IMG_4040-scaled-e1597053762700-300x156.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/IMG_4040-scaled-e1597053762700-768x400.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/IMG_4040-scaled-e1597053762700-1536x799.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/IMG_4040-scaled-e1597053762700-973x506.jpg 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/IMG_4040-scaled-e1597053762700-508x264.jpg 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/IMG_4040-scaled-e1597053762700.jpg 1881w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-60 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Josse and<\/strong> <strong>honorary mayor Rutten<\/strong> <strong>of Kinrooi<\/strong>, the father-in-law of Luc Van Kerckhoven and grandfather of mayor Gwendolyn Rutten  (photo: 1976)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"904\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2060-2k-1024x904.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8446\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2060-2k-1024x904.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2060-2k-300x265.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2060-2k-768x678.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2060-2k-1536x1356.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2060-2k-973x859.jpg 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2060-2k-508x449.jpg 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2060-2k.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-61 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Josse defiant, overconfident but actually also charming.  (photo: 1976)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-62 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">With Josse you cannot escape card games while she smokes cigars and whistles.  She whistles continuously; both at home and while walking through town. Godfried warns Pieter: \u201cWhen she whistles everything is fine, but when you hear her humming she is angry and someone is going to get a scolding.\u201d Her distinguished sister Elvire hates all that whistling but after Josse\u2019s passing will often repeat: \u201cOur Jos could whistle beautifully.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"677\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img007-2-1024x677.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-44229\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img007-2-1024x677.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img007-2-300x198.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img007-2-768x508.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img007-2-1536x1016.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img007-2-2048x1354.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img007-2-973x643.jpg 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img007-2-508x336.jpg 508w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-63 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Dr Paul Van Kerckhoven<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_1461.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color has-large-font-size wp-elements-64 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>How does the baker\u2019s son view what happens to Josse?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"789\" height=\"611\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-71.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-38345\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-71.png 789w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-71-300x232.png 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-71-768x595.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-71-508x393.png 508w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 789px) 100vw, 789px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-65 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Eric has kept the cigar bands he received from Josse <\/strong> (photo: 2025)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-66 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Eric:  When we first lived in Aarschot, during the fair the dodgems stood in front of our house.  Mum and I saw from behind the window someone in a suit at the dodgems. Mum: \u201cIs that a man or a woman now? No, a man, no, a woman.\u201d And so back and forth\u2026 Afterwards we got to know Miss Jos\u2026 .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-67 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Pieter: For the lights of 15 August aunt Josse still refused to put candles in the window frames and had bought instead a kind of rows of electric lamps for the whole facade. But someone made a negative remark about it. Whereupon Josse smashed all the lamp installations in the hallway. I stood watching as a little child, cried with laughter and told my dad, who scolded me because I found something like that so funny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-68 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Eric:  People told the strangest things about her, that at birth she had a vagina and a little penis. &#8230; seems very extreme to me.  Her lesbian friend on the Elisabethlaan received a piano from her.  She must have had a difficult life &#8230; often very lonely &#8230; she deserves a book with her biography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"739\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/010_2k8-739x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5647\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-69 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>This 19th-century engraving of the Church of Our Lady in Aarschot hung in Frie\u2019s office<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color has-large-font-size wp-elements-70 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Josse sees how far she can go:  with her manoeuvres in \u00d4\u2019schot<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-71 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">(around 1970) A friendly-looking aunt Josse walks slowly and at her ease to the pastry chef Deleu on &#8216;t Schaluin. Nothing is so annoying as standing in a queue, thinks Josse, and subtly she walks past the whole row of people waiting. She knows full well how, with such behaviour, she can drive the mouldy zombies present up the wall. Fortunately there is the shop assistant Diane, who is engaged to the baker\u2019s son. She admonishes \u201cMiss Van Kerckhoven\u201d to wait her turn, not to feel better than anyone else. Well, well. Josse\u2019s good mood goes to pot: \u201cYou\u2019re a right one. Just you wait\u2026 I know you well.\u201d Josse answers grimly. \u201cYour father is the head clerk at my nephew the notary\u2019s. You haven\u2019t heard the last of this!\u201d Diane \u201cis made to look a fool\u201d but she does not give in. Godfried learns of the incident. At once he is overcome by a feeling of shame and he goes to apologise to Diane for the intimidating behaviour of his doting aunt. At the same time he recruits Diane as a notary\u2019s clerk. Diane goes on working for the notariat her whole career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"654\" height=\"588\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-150.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-42185\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-150.png 654w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-150-300x270.png 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-150-508x457.png 508w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 654px) 100vw, 654px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-72 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>At pastry chef Deleu you would want to learn the Aarschot dialect just for the Aarschot pastries.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-73 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Marcel Deleu, founder of the house of the same name, laid the foundations of the little cake in the early 1980s together with Patisserie Engels and Bakkerij Noppen. The driving force behind their tireless quest for flavour? To have the Aarschot pastry recognised as a regional product. For these passionate pastry chefs, working with puff pastry, frangipane, apple compote and praline, a mixture of roasted almonds, sugar, egg white and coconut, equals enjoying, sharing, discovering and being creative. . \u201cEvery time I pass through Aarschot I go to Deleu to order an Aarschot pastry. The small size, those proportions seem better to me.\u201d &#8211; Pieter \u201cIt is so delicious that you can serve it as a dessert at a dinner.\u201d &#8211; Mia<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-74 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>NEXT<\/strong> <strong>ANECDOTES BY TINEKE SAS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"720\" height=\"960\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-17.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-34820\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-17.png 720w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-17-225x300.png 225w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-17-508x677.png 508w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-75 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Tineke Sas <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-76 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Aunt Jos and the Saturday evening mass<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-77 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">\u201cLong ago, in the sixties, it was always a treat for my little friend Margit Van Osta (half-sister of An Van Kerckhoven) and me to go every Saturday to the half past seven evening mass in the Great Church of Aarschot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-78 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Yes, in those days they were quite the adventures, and certainly because Aunt Jos came along!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-79 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Skipping, side by side with Aunt Jos, the first stop was of course \u2018The Little Sweet Shop\u2019 on the corner of Kardinaal Mercierlaan and the Bonenwijk next to Ang\u00e8le Carmen\u2019s house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-80 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Aunt Jos gave us strict orders: \u201chave a big bag filled with lots of sweets to put straight into your mouths, children!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-81 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Cuberdons, all kinds of chewy sweets, Frutellas, gummies and jappekes\u2026 you name it! With our haul, well hidden in Aunt Jos\u2019s coat \u2026 hop, off to church!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-82 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">She always chose the side aisle, it was less noticeable then when we followed the mass with chewing mouths (or rather followed the filled bag of sweets?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-83 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">That was the ritual, Aunt Jos in the middle, us on both sides, and she handed out sweets non-stop, to the great astonishment of the curate, the Reverend Mr Goor, who now and then cast a sidelong, uneasy glance in our direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-84 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">But Aunt Jos let nothing distract her and went on snacking cosily \u2026 to the great delight of Margit and me! Unforgettable!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-85 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Aunt Jos and the jewellery box<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-86 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"> Margit and I liked to visit the aunts: Aunt Jos and Aunt Elvire at Leuvensestraat N\u00b05 in Aarschot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-87 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">My first visit was really very special. In the living room, richly decorated as befitted distinguished aunts, lay a thick, sturdy Persian carpet that you would normally see lying on the floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-88 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">On a rainy afternoon, Margit and I sitting at the big table, Aunt Jos took a magnificent, sturdy antique wooden chest from the dresser cupboard and placed it, parading, in the middle of the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-89 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">\u201cLook, children, what I have here?!\u201d And she opened the large jewellery box with great devotion. We stared at the overflowing glitter, after which Aunt Jos let us admire everything one by one and try it on with our small children\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-90 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">We all had the greatest fun that Saturday afternoon in the cosy warm house of these lovely aunts!\u201d &#8211; Christine Sas (2023)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-91 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>AUNT JOSSE SETS HER SIGHTS ON ZOT LOWIEKE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"711\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/image-1-711x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-31932\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/image-1-711x1024.png 711w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/image-1-208x300.png 208w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/image-1-768x1106.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/image-1-1066x1536.png 1066w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/image-1-973x1402.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/image-1-508x732.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/image-1.png 1130w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 711px) 100vw, 711px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-92 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>(Zot) Louis(ke) Verlinden (1878-1948)<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-93 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">*In reality Louis Verlinden was anything but mad.  He was a handsome, serious trader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-94 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">(around 1981) \u201cI often visited the aunts and received pocket money every time. The housekeeper Octavieke opened the front door: \u2018They\u2019re at it again, you know. They\u2019re completely beside themselves and I\u2019m left to deal with it. I don\u2019t think I can keep this up much longer.\u2019 Sometimes aunt Josse opened the door: \u2018What have you come to do? You have no appointment here\u2019 and the door slammed shut. After a few seconds Josse changed her mind and I was allowed in after all. A metal tin of Delacre biscuits was always put in front of me, and Crystal Monopol lemon lemonade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"773\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-22-1024x773.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-34639\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-22-1024x773.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-22-300x226.png 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-22-768x580.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-22-973x734.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-22-508x383.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-22.png 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-95 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Pour la petite histoire:  Aunt Josse sent me to pick out a little present in the shop of \u2018Zot Lowieke\u2019 and I came back with a yellow army jeep. Josse: \u2018Come on now! Is that all you\u2019ve got? Go and fetch something more.\u2019 So I ran back and forth until the table was full of toys. Then aunt Josse phoned \u2018Zot Lowieke\u2019: \u2018This is Miss Van Kerckhoven. My nephew came to pick out presents and we\u2019re coming to pay for them now. What discount are you giving us on it? Nothing\u2026? Wait then. We\u2019re coming over.\u2019 Jos tipped everything into a sack. Expecting a bad outcome, I had quickly hidden the little army jeep. I ran after aunt Jos, who stuck her walking stick out in front of her so that cars had to brake. Without looking or thanking the motorists she crossed the street. Jos flung open the shop door and hurled everything to the back of the shop. Jos: \u2018Here, stingy grouch! Keep all that junk!\u2019 The shopkeeper dared say nothing. I told aunt Jos that I had kept the little jeep. Jos: \u2018Good boy, keep that for me. Those of Zot Lowieke get nothing.\u2019 My father could not stomach the incident. Frie: \u2018What on earth do you want with that. Just leave it. Now I\u2019ll have to go to those of Zot Lowieke and pay for everything, as deputy justice of the peace.\u2019\u201d &#8211; Pieter<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"981\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-21-1024x981.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-34637\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-21-1024x981.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-21-300x288.png 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-21-768x736.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-21-973x932.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-21-508x487.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-21.png 1345w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-96 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Long after his death the shop was called \u2018Zot Lowieke\u2019 instead of \u2018Verlinden bazaar\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-97 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">(1977) <strong>Discover why Pieter will wear his watch only a few times.   <\/strong>But what to give to children who make their communion? Pieter\u2019s first communion is a festive occasion for the Roman Catholic Josse and Elvire. Pieter then has a special day, and with it come a party and several presents! Elvire comes to the communion party in Wolfsdonk but Josse refuses to come because a descendant of the M\u00e0kke will be present. From the aunts Pieter receives his first watch. A classic wind-up watch with a white dial, Arabic numerals and a croco strap with a glossy finish. The little watch stays in the drawer because it is too smart and little Pieter is still too young to take it to school. He will have to wait until sixth year to be allowed to wear it. The watch has a dial that glows thanks to radium. The bright glow from radioactivity fascinates the curious Pieter.<em> <\/em> Regularly winding the mechanical watch is crucial for maintaining its accuracy. Because the little wearer winds the movement irregularly, it loses energy, resulting in inaccurate timekeeping. Exasperated, he attacks the movement. The crown of the watch, meant to be turned by hand, is ripped off with pliers. The sapphire glass is prised off with a screwdriver. The springs are taken out. By the time Pieter is allowed to wear the watch, its lifespan is long over. Pieter gets a new automatic watch from his father, on condition that he will not break any more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"200\" height=\"252\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-11.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-41164\" style=\"width:404px;height:auto\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-98 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Marie Laurencin (1883-1956), painter, poet and decorator, asserts herself as a free, independent woman.  She remained the companion of Nicole Groult for forty years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-99 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>\u00ab On peut dire tout ce qu\u2019on veut, une femme n\u2019est pas un gar\u00e7on, elle peut avoir du talent, travailler, elle n\u2019en sera que plus sensible pour souffrir et chercher la retraite, celles qui ont des \u00e9lans, qui courent sur les routes, les ind\u00e9pendantes, je les regarde \u00bb<\/strong> &#8211; Marie Laurencin (1956)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-100 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><br><strong>NEXT<\/strong> <strong>ANECDOTES BY AN<\/strong> <strong>VAN KERCKHOVEN <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-101 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">\u201cAunt Josse came to pick me up from school and then we passed Zot Lowieke\u2019s little shop. \u2018Little man, what do you want to have?\u2019 said aunt Josse. I was allowed to choose whatever I wanted. When I got home my furious father ordered me to take it back. \u2018You are being spoiled too much!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"862\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Verwerkt-1024x862.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-44124\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Verwerkt-1024x862.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Verwerkt-300x253.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Verwerkt-768x647.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Verwerkt-1536x1293.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Verwerkt-2048x1724.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Verwerkt-973x819.jpg 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Verwerkt-508x428.jpg 508w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-102 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>An Van Kerckhoven through Josse\u2019s lens<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-103 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Listen to An (recording 2024)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_1819.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-63-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-38301\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-63-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-63-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-63-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-63-973x547.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-63-508x286.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-63.png 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-104 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>\u2018Taxi Miel\u2019 took the aunts and me to Leuven fair. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-105 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"290\" height=\"401\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-37310\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-1.jpeg 290w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-1-217x300.jpeg 217w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 290px) 100vw, 290px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-106 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">\u201cIn their handbag was a little box of sweets, <strong>\u2018Eau des Carmes\u2019<\/strong> and sugar lumps in case we felt sick on the way. When a thunderstorm threatened, the statue of Donatus, the saint of thunder, was brought out and I had to pray against lightning strikes and make the sign of the cross at every flash of lightning. When they had lost something, Anthony was put on the table and prayers were said to this patron saint.\u201d &#8211; An<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color has-large-font-size wp-elements-107 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Now Pieter briefly loses his credibility<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"755\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-20-755x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-34555\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-20-755x1024.png 755w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-20-221x300.png 221w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-20-768x1042.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-20-1132x1536.png 1132w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-20-973x1320.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-20-508x689.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-20.png 1450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 755px) 100vw, 755px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-108 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>In the aunts\u2019 town garden stand garden gnomes, this figurine named Janneke<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"661\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-139-1024x661.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-41443\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-139-1024x661.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-139-300x194.png 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-139-768x496.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-139-1536x992.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-139-973x629.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-139-508x328.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-139.png 1610w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-109 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">(2025) \u201cSome claim that aunt Josse\u2019s \u2018Janneke\u2019 statue dates from the 18th or 19th century. Janneke is to be restored by one of the \u2018meilleurs ouvriers de France\u2019, who works among other things on statues that adorn the park of Versailles. Let\u2019s be honest, our family is undeniably \u2018the\u2019 chic, old family of Aarschot. For who can boast of a garden statue that has stood there for centuries? For confirmation \u2019t Janneke is dragged to art historian Jos\u00e9e Lehon. This Aarschot art pope catalogues him as \u2018junk\u2019 AND suggests letting him rot further among the foliage. Here is the coup de gr\u00e2ce by An Van Kerckhoven: \u2018Taxi Miel took aunt Josse and me to Gaby\u2019s florist\u2019s, where I was allowed to choose the Janneke\u2026 .\u2019 Why? Why?\u201d &#8211; Pieter<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"682\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/foto-door-Oliver-Schwartz-Juni-2017-682x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-41565\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/foto-door-Oliver-Schwartz-Juni-2017-682x1024.jpg 682w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/foto-door-Oliver-Schwartz-Juni-2017-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/foto-door-Oliver-Schwartz-Juni-2017-768x1153.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/foto-door-Oliver-Schwartz-Juni-2017-508x763.jpg 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/foto-door-Oliver-Schwartz-Juni-2017.jpg 850w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 682px) 100vw, 682px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color has-normal-font-size wp-elements-110 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">\u201cYou\u2019re just a soap baron\u201d &#8211; Godfried to Pieter<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color has-normal-font-size wp-elements-111 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>&#8220;Ce qui fait la noblesse d&#8217;une chose, c&#8217;est son \u00e9ternit\u00e9&#8221; <\/strong>&#8211; L\u00e9onardo da Vinci <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"625\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-112-625x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-39854\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-112-625x1024.png 625w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-112-183x300.png 183w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-112-768x1258.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-112-938x1536.png 938w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-112-1250x2048.png 1250w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-112-973x1594.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-112-508x832.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-112.png 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 625px) 100vw, 625px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-112 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>&amp; the little grotto with Mother Mary, adorned with an illuminated halo<\/strong> <strong>which<\/strong> <strong> completely undoes Pieter.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-113 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Like Francis, Josse is always on the side of the most vulnerable in society and is fond of birds, whistles along with them and talks to them. \u201cWatch out, my little sisters, for the sin of ingratitude, and always sing praise to God.\u201d The birds listen attentively to everything Josse has to say. For the little birds in the town garden Josse buys two fresh loaves every day, which she scatters next to the garden gnomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"907\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/image-10-907x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-32528\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/image-10-907x1024.png 907w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/image-10-266x300.png 266w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/image-10-768x867.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/image-10-973x1098.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/image-10-508x573.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/image-10.png 1134w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 907px) 100vw, 907px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-114 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Saint Francis of Assisi by Giotto di Bondone  &#8211; around 1298 &#8211; Louvre<\/strong><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"782\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-1024x782.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-37288\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-1024x782.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-300x229.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-768x587.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-1536x1173.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-973x743.jpeg 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-508x388.jpeg 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-115 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">On Monday 21 March 1983 Aarschot takes leave of an important popular figure. The three cousins, Paul, Jos and Godfried, begin the preparations for the funeral on Saturday. Josse lies in state in the drawing room of her parental home in Leuvensestraat no. 5. The body of the deceased Josse lies in an open coffin, a rosary in her hands, until her funeral on Saturday morning. Until then the people of Aarschot can pay a last farewell. Pieter goes to greet her every day and stays as long as possible with aunt Elvire. She has never been alone and she is the last remaining of the large family. Mia goes along once to offer condolences to the inconsolable Elvire: \u201cIt\u2019s unbelievable! But just look at that little face. She has no wrinkles and she never knew \u2018cr\u00e8me de nuit\u2019 or ever had a facelift.\u201d &#8211; Mia<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Je t&amp;apos;aime - Jeck (Cover de Lara Fabian)\" width=\"620\" height=\"349\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tj4juEAwBIY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color has-large-font-size wp-elements-116 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Meet Octavieke, for 25 years the housekeeper of Elvire and Josse.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"681\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/foto-5-681x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-40535\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/foto-5-681x1024.jpg 681w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/foto-5-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/foto-5-768x1154.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/foto-5-1022x1536.jpg 1022w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/foto-5-1363x2048.jpg 1363w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/foto-5-973x1462.jpg 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/foto-5-508x763.jpg 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/foto-5-scaled.jpg 1704w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 681px) 100vw, 681px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-117 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">(2025) The 85-year-old Octavie praises her employer Josse, her lifestyle and the generosity she practised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-118 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Octavie, who used to be the aunts\u2019 housekeeper, also got to know Josse and Elvire better in private.  In 2025 she tells about it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video height=\"1080\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1920 \/ 1080;\" width=\"1920\" controls src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_1426.mov\"><\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_1426-2.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-119 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Octavieke tells<\/strong> (Aarschot, 2025)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"681\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/foto-14-1024x681.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-40554\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/foto-14-1024x681.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/foto-14-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/foto-14-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/foto-14-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/foto-14-2048x1362.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/foto-14-973x647.jpg 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/foto-14-508x338.jpg 508w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-120 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Octavie in the inner courtyard at the aunts\u2019 in Aarschot.<\/strong> (photo: Josse VK)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-121 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">\u201cThe Misses Van Kerckhoven were good to me. But aunt Josse, that is what I had to call her, was still much better than Elvire. Josse was so friendly and simple in her dealings. Mind you, she was sometimes not easy. Elvire was distant, haughty and liked to show off her diamond jewellery. After my work aunt Josse took me to the pastry chef Cornel to eat a little pie. Aunt Josse gave a lot of money to beggars. I would say she shouldn\u2019t give so much, because they get money too\u2026 . There were sometimes words between Josse and Elvire: aunt Josse smoked cigars and Elvire would say: \u2018Just throw those away.\u2019 But she didn\u2019t. Aunt Josse wanted to die at home, she had always said so. I had to clean in the big room where aunt Josse lay dead in an open coffin. I soon got used to that.  Ah yes, I always saw her lying there. That lasted a week. She lay there beautifully. The most honest thing there is, is death; because both the rich and the poor have to go. But I shed many tears for Josse. I will never forget her. I did my best and had a lot of patience with the aunts. I still think of them often. &#8211; Octavie (Aarschot, 2025)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-122 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>&#8220;Aveugle comme Hom\u00e8re et comme B\u00e9lisaire,  N&#8217;ayant plus qu&#8217;un enfant pour guide et pour appui, La main qui donnera du pain \u00e0 sa mis\u00e8re, Il ne la verra pas, mais Dieu la voit pour lui.&#8221; <\/strong>&#8211; Victor Hugo<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"821\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/image-7-821x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-25165\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/image-7-821x1024.png 821w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/image-7-240x300.png 240w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/image-7-768x958.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/image-7-973x1214.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/image-7-508x634.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/image-7.png 1026w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 821px) 100vw, 821px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-123 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Josse receives an LP from her cousin Paul and his family<\/strong>.  Note Paul\u2019s handwriting <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/DSCF8297-757x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Deze afbeelding heeft een leeg alt-attribuut; de bestandsnaam is DSCF8297-757x1024.jpg\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-124 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Josse<\/strong> <strong>(1899-1983)<\/strong>  (photo: 1976)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-125 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>&#8220;\u00catre diff\u00e9rent n&#8217;est ni une bonne chose, ni une mauvaise chose.  Cela signifie simplement que vous \u00eates suffisamment courageux pour \u00eatre vous-m\u00eame.&#8221; <\/strong>&#8211; Albert Camus<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color has-large-font-size wp-elements-126 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Rehabilitation of a loner<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"884\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-29-884x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-43479\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-29-884x1024.jpeg 884w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-29-259x300.jpeg 259w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-29-768x889.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-29-1326x1536.jpeg 1326w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-29-1769x2048.jpeg 1769w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-29-973x1127.jpeg 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-29-508x588.jpeg 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-29.jpeg 2019w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 884px) 100vw, 884px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-127 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">(2025) <strong>Fran\u00e7ois Renier between the statue and photos of aunt Josse &#8211; Municipal Museum Aarschot <\/strong>  A striking moment:  industrialist Fran\u00e7ois Renier apologises after all these years in a personal message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"699\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-118-699x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-40451\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-118-699x1024.png 699w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-118-205x300.png 205w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-118-768x1124.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-118-1049x1536.png 1049w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-118-1399x2048.png 1399w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-118-973x1425.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-118-508x744.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-118-scaled.png 1749w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 699px) 100vw, 699px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"687\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-119-687x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-40455\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-119-687x1024.png 687w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-119-201x300.png 201w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-119-768x1144.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-119-1031x1536.png 1031w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-119-1375x2048.png 1375w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-119-973x1449.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-119-508x757.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-119-scaled.png 1719w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 687px) 100vw, 687px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"712\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-120-712x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-40458\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-120-712x1024.png 712w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-120-209x300.png 209w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-120-768x1104.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-120-1068x1536.png 1068w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-120-1424x2048.png 1424w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-120-973x1399.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-120-508x731.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-120-scaled.png 1780w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 712px) 100vw, 712px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"836\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-121-836x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-40461\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-121-836x1024.png 836w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-121-245x300.png 245w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-121-768x941.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-121-1253x1536.png 1253w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-121-1671x2048.png 1671w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-121-973x1192.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-121-508x623.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-121.png 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 836px) 100vw, 836px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color has-normal-font-size wp-elements-128 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"915\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-20-915x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-42431\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-20-915x1024.jpeg 915w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-20-268x300.jpeg 268w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-20-768x860.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-20-1372x1536.jpeg 1372w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-20-1829x2048.jpeg 1829w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-20-973x1089.jpeg 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-20-508x569.jpeg 508w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 915px) 100vw, 915px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-129 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Noteworthy:  <strong>The strength of Josse<\/strong>.  42 years after her passing, Hilde Hermans, an artist in Aarschot, sculpts aunt Josse and so breathes new life into her. Her art is from now on filled with ever more meaning and she is becoming ever more famous. Aarschot culture prize 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-130 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">The fact that the godforsaken Josse Van Kerckhoven (1899-1983) is honoured in the Municipal Museum is perhaps the greatest surprise of 2025.  Who would have thought it a hundred years ago?  It seems as if the Aarschot bourgeoisie, which had certainly not treated her gently, is gradually making peace with the figure of Josse Van Kerckhoven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"672\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img037-1-1024x672.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-44472\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img037-1-1024x672.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img037-1-300x197.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img037-1-768x504.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img037-1-1536x1009.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img037-1-2048x1345.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img037-1-973x639.jpg 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img037-1-508x334.jpg 508w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-131 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Fran\u00e7ois Renier and Pieter<\/strong>  (photo: 2000)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-132 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>&#8221; Il y a des jours, des mois, des ann\u00e9es interminables o\u00f9 il ne se passe presque rien.  Il y a des minutes et des secondes qui contiennent tout un monde. &#8220;<\/strong> &#8211; Jean d&#8217;Ormesson<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-133 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>A GLIMPSE INTO THE LIVES OF THE LITTLE AUNTS WHO MOVE AWAY TO LEUVEN<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"678\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_E1189-1024x678.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-40419\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_E1189-1024x678.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_E1189-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_E1189-768x508.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_E1189-1536x1016.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_E1189-2048x1355.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_E1189-973x644.jpg 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_E1189-508x336.jpg 508w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-134 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>&#8221; Vous ne saurez jamais que votre \u00e2me voyage<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-135 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Comme au fond de mon coeur,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-136 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>un doux coeur adopt\u00e9;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-137 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Et que rien,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-138 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>ni le temps, d&#8217;autres amours, ni l&#8217;\u00e2ge,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-139 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Ne feront jamais que vous n&#8217;ayez \u00e9t\u00e9.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-140 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Que la beaut\u00e9 du monde a pris votre visage,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-141 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Qu&#8217;un peu de votre voix est pass\u00e9 dans mon chant. &#8221; <\/strong>&#8211; Marguerite Yourcenar<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/IMG_E1192-703x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Deze afbeelding heeft een leeg alt-attribuut; de bestandsnaam is IMG_E1192-703x1024.jpg\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-142 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Margaretha Van Kerckhoven<\/strong>  (1890-1960) <br>Top-earner aunt<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-143 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Margaretha is a \u2018grande dame\u2019 bursting with fighting spirit. She stands firmly behind the business and firmly behind Frie and his brothers. As the leading voice she takes the initiative to start a second business in Leuven on the Oude Markt. The two world wars make it an arduous project, because the economy is brought to a standstill twice. Then the staff sit at home, and she herself often too. They are unprecedentedly complicated times in which to run a business. Margaretha does not give up so easily. It is above all the solidarity and pulling together that ensure that this top woman, despite crises, turns the business in Leuven into a source of prosperity. <br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"851\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2034-2k-1024x851.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8468\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2034-2k-1024x851.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2034-2k-300x249.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2034-2k-768x639.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2034-2k-1536x1277.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2034-2k-973x809.jpg 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2034-2k-508x422.jpg 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2034-2k.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-144 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Identity card<\/strong> <strong>of Margaretha<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-46-1024x683.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-28879\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-46-1024x683.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-46-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-46-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-46-973x649.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-46-508x339.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-46.png 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-145 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Jos, Tineke, Arthur, Clara, Godfried, Margaretha<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1020\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-179-1020x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-46818\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-179-1020x1024.png 1020w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-179-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-179-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-179-768x771.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-179-1531x1536.png 1531w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-179-2041x2048.png 2041w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-179-88x88.png 88w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-179-973x976.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-179-508x510.png 508w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1020px) 100vw, 1020px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-146 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>\u201cRoses and Anemones\u201d  <\/strong>Vincent Van Gogh, one of his last works.  He dies in Margaretha\u2019s birth year.   The work hangs in the Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Orsay.   (1986) Godfried and Mia are invited to Paris for the opening of this museum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-147 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Margaretha is acquainted with a doctor from Aarschot, but her brother Arthur insists that she put an end to the relationship so that the fortune can stay within the family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-148 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"598\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img006-1-1024x598.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-38240\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img006-1-1024x598.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img006-1-300x175.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img006-1-768x449.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img006-1-1536x897.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img006-1-2048x1197.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img006-1-973x568.jpg 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img006-1-508x297.jpg 508w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-149 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">The proud Margriet\u2026 who doesn\u2019t know her? With her brother Richard Van Kerckhoven (1880-1947). Richard is postmaster in Brussels and Godfried\u2019s godfather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"493\" height=\"756\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-99.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-39060\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-99.png 493w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-99-196x300.png 196w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 493px) 100vw, 493px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-150 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Besides the mass in their own chapel, the praying continues in the Sint-Michielskerk in the Naamsestraat<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-151 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">The church was built between 1650 and 1666.  The church was almost completely destroyed in 1944. Only the facade was spared, as if by a miracle.  The reconstruction of the church was completed in 1950.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-152 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">In the church you will find a reconstruction of a baroque organ on which the music of J.S. Bach can be performed in the best conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/IMG_E1191-686x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Deze afbeelding heeft een leeg alt-attribuut; de bestandsnaam is IMG_E1191-686x1024.jpg\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-153 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Bertha Van Kerckhoven <\/strong>(1894-1963) <br>At the end of the Second World War things are not going well for this aunt of Frie. She witnesses the enormous devastation of the bombings. Through post-traumatic stress disorder Bertha ends up in a wheelchair for the rest of her life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"589\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img028-1024x589.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-37900\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img028-1024x589.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img028-300x173.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img028-768x442.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img028-1536x884.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img028-2048x1178.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img028-973x560.jpg 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img028-508x292.jpg 508w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-154 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Bertha and Jos<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"819\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-43-1024x819.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-28870\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-43-1024x819.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-43-300x240.png 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-43-768x614.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-43-973x778.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-43-508x406.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-43.png 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-155 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Bertha with her little nephews Paul and Jos at Leuven fair<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color has-large-font-size wp-elements-156 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><br><strong>Elvire grows up as the youngest in a family of nine children<\/strong><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/IMG_E1195-hdmi-e1592042969355-773x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Deze afbeelding heeft een leeg alt-attribuut; de bestandsnaam is IMG_E1195-hdmi-e1592042969355-773x1024.jpg\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-157 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Elvire <\/strong><strong>Van Kerckhoven<\/strong> (1900-1986)<br>Elvire studies at the boarding school in Laeken, in a highly regarded convent school run by sisters, open only to \u2018young ladies of good standing\u2019. There Elvire is under the care of her uncle (the war orphan Richard Vermaelen) who is assigned the post of parish priest there. Later she joins in the business in Leuven and takes care of the shop window, which she calls \u201cde veu doen\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"685\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2051-2k-685x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8453\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2051-2k-685x1024.jpg 685w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2051-2k-201x300.jpg 201w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2051-2k-768x1148.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2051-2k-1028x1536.jpg 1028w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2051-2k-973x1454.jpg 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2051-2k-508x759.jpg 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2051-2k.jpg 1338w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 685px) 100vw, 685px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-158 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Elvire was witty and sharp and full of life<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"796\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img020-1-796x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-38268\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img020-1-796x1024.jpg 796w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img020-1-233x300.jpg 233w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img020-1-768x988.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img020-1-1194x1536.jpg 1194w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img020-1-1591x2048.jpg 1591w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img020-1-973x1252.jpg 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img020-1-508x654.jpg 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img020-1-scaled.jpg 1989w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 796px) 100vw, 796px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-159 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Elvire, Josse, Jos<\/strong> (photo: 1964)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-160 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">\u201c Josse and Elvire are husband and wife. To be able to tell the two \u2018Josses\u2019 in our family apart, one of them has to wear earrings and be called aunt. \u201d &#8211; reasons Pieter as a toddler<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color has-large-font-size wp-elements-161 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Everything comes back<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-90-1024x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-38718\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-90-1024x1024.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-90-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-90-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-90-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-90-1536x1536.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-90-88x88.png 88w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-90-973x973.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-90-508x508.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-90.png 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-162 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Miu Miu<\/strong> can call itself the undisputed it-brand of the moment, and that makes Elvire\u2019s shoes coveted collectors\u2019 items. (photo: 2025 collection)<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/van-kerckhoven-famille-dscf8283-2k5-824x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Deze afbeelding heeft een leeg alt-attribuut; de bestandsnaam is van-kerckhoven-famille-dscf8283-2k5-824x1024.jpg\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-163 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Elvire Van Kerckhoven<\/strong>  (1900-1986)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-164 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Diamonds are a mere trifle for the immensely rich Elvire.  She gladly spends a lot of money on them and during the wartime flight she takes the gemstones with her sewn into her dress. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-165 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">\u201cWe took two cars with chauffeurs and fled to France. We arrived at a castle that we could rent. But then the Germans came. And we were afraid that they would drive us out. But our Margrit could speak good German, because she had been at boarding school in Brussels. And we agreed with the officers that we would split the castle. The soldiers pushed cupboards in front of the inner doors so that we could not disturb one another. From there we still bumped into each other and then the officer said: \u2018The French are dirty people\u2019, we had to laugh a lot about that.\u201d &#8211; the aunts (According to Mia the German soldiers pushed the cupboards aside again at night\u2026)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"873\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2061-2k-e1599642868736-873x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8445\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2061-2k-e1599642868736-873x1024.jpg 873w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2061-2k-e1599642868736-256x300.jpg 256w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2061-2k-e1599642868736-768x900.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2061-2k-e1599642868736-1310x1536.jpg 1310w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2061-2k-e1599642868736-973x1141.jpg 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2061-2k-e1599642868736-508x596.jpg 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2061-2k-e1599642868736.jpg 1433w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 873px) 100vw, 873px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-166 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Elvire, old but still sharp<\/strong> (photo: 1976)<br>Listen to an interview by Pieter with his great-aunts Elvire and Josse (recorded on a cassette tape around 1977):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/pieter-interview-mes-tantes-restored.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"744\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img052-1024x744.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-38284\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img052-1024x744.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img052-300x218.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img052-768x558.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img052-1536x1116.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img052-2048x1488.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img052-973x707.jpg 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img052-508x369.jpg 508w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-167 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Josse, Rev. Richard Vermaelen, Elvire  <\/strong>(photo: 1964)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-168 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Attached to Elvire are not only quite a few very expensive jewels but also the story of the atrocities in Aarschot during the First World War.  She is detailed in her accounts to the point of the autistic.  We know every wafer-thin detail of what happened in Aarschot during the First and Second World Wars. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-169 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">\u201c All the men of the Martelaerenstraat were taken out of their houses and shot dead, including our uncle Richard.<br>On 28 August 1914 we were locked up in the Church of Our Lady while the town was systematically plundered and burnt down. After futile attempts to set fire to the church with many people of Aarschot inside it, our family had to go on foot under duress to Leuven, where we were housed in a stable with straw. Officers smoked cigars and, laughing, let the burning ash fall into the straw. \u201d &#8211; Elvire<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"691\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-79-691x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-38429\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-79-691x1024.png 691w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-79-203x300.png 203w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-79-768x1138.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-79-508x753.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-79.png 887w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 691px) 100vw, 691px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-170 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Elvire is a fan of the tenor Rudolph Schock.  The distinguished lady watches, fascinated, the New Year\u2019s Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic, which is in the hands of \u2018das Wunder\u2019 Karajan.   The music is magnificent, the orchestra a dream, and Elvire claps lightly along to the \u2018Radetzky March\u2019.  Pieter is put on a little bench by Elvire and with a pencil he conducts like a top conductor the Viennese polkas, marches and waltzes.  Elvire is passionate about the television series \u2018The Forsyte Saga\u2019, filmed in 1967, about an arrogant Victorian family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Harry and Paul - The Forsyte Saga\" width=\"620\" height=\"349\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tw6i8Q-WgIo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-171 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Dean-parish priest Berghmans brings Elvire communion at home every week and receives for it 200 francs, a box of 25 Corps Diplomatique cigars at 16 francs apiece and 2 packs of C\u00f4te d\u2019Or milk chocolate for the sisters of the Institute Sancta Maria.  With the help of a pint of Tuborg, Elvire, with gouty hand, takes the super-dry Body of Christ. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-18-768x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-36428\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-18-768x1024.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-18-225x300.png 225w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-18-1152x1536.png 1152w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-18-973x1297.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-18-508x677.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-18.png 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-172 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Eric B., the son of the pastry chef D\u00e9lecta on the Grote Markt in Aarschot, where the aunts were customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color has-large-font-size wp-elements-173 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>In conversation<\/strong>: the pastry chef\u2019s son about Elvire and Josse (recording 2024)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_7442.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-174 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_7443.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"613\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-80-613x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-38433\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-80-613x1024.png 613w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-80-180x300.png 180w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-80-508x849.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-80.png 720w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 613px) 100vw, 613px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-175 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>&#8221; L&#8217;\u00e9l\u00e9gance est la seule beaut\u00e9 qui ne se fane jamais &#8220;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-89-768x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-38700\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-89-768x1024.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-89-225x300.png 225w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-89-1152x1536.png 1152w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-89-1536x2048.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-89-973x1297.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-89-508x677.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-89.png 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-link-color has-normal-font-size wp-elements-176\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">This Balenciaga designer bag dominates 2025<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-link-color has-normal-font-size wp-elements-177\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Inspired by Elvire\u2019s handbag, but with a <em>slouchy<\/em> frame, the Balenciaga Rodeo made its debut in the streets of Paris during Couture week. Elvire could already count this timeless handbag among her biggest fans.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/van-kerckhoven-DSCF6867-3k-1024x673.jpg\" alt=\"Deze afbeelding heeft een leeg alt-attribuut; de bestandsnaam is van-kerckhoven-DSCF6867-3k-1024x673.jpg\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-178 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">The seven sisters regularly go out with their brother Arthur and they line up neatly for it.   With their familiar attributes of prosperity and standing: beautiful cars, jewels, fur and Champagne in silver cups for the journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-179 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">If something or someone is still missing from the family portraits, it is Frie\u2019s mother.  Clementina is overlooked every time. She sells fabrics and fur coats from Monday to Sunday noon to secure her sons and their descendants as far as possible financially.  She feels treated without affection by the aunts.  Aunt Josse takes and develops the photos herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-180 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">One thing is clear: the aunts\u2019 powerful connections help Frie and his brother, who is studying medicine, get ahead.  The university was much smaller than today  and initially French-speaking.  Among the professors there were many clergymen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color has-large-font-size wp-elements-181 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Who is the Bug?  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"682\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/image-32-682x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-28388\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/image-32-682x1024.png 682w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/image-32-200x300.png 200w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/image-32-768x1152.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/image-32-508x762.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/image-32.png 853w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 682px) 100vw, 682px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-182 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Of the dead (almost) nothing but good: this is what Elvire, Josse and Godfried said about Canon Van Buggenhout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/van-kerckhoven-famille-dscf8300-2k5-797x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Deze afbeelding heeft een leeg alt-attribuut; de bestandsnaam is van-kerckhoven-famille-dscf8300-2k5-797x1024.jpg\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-183 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Canon J.B. Van Buggenhout, professor<\/strong> (1875-1952)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2037-2k-1024x622.jpg\" alt=\"Deze afbeelding heeft een leeg alt-attribuut; de bestandsnaam is DSCF2037-2k-1024x622.jpg\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-184 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>The professor<\/strong> <strong>lives with the Misses Van Kerckhoven in Leuven.  A chapel is fitted out for Van Buggenhout.  Proud Elvire is the sacristan there.  The aunts love their lodger, the canon, dearly.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-185 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">The crucifix on the altar was donated by Guy Van Kerckhoven to the church of Le Contadour in Provence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"636\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-35-1024x636.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-37943\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-35-1024x636.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-35-300x186.png 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-35-768x477.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-35-1536x954.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-35-973x605.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-35-508x316.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-35.png 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-186 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>\u201c Here the little altar of my house chapel, on the Lavorenberg. When will Fried come here to serve Mass? \u201d &#8211; J.V.Buggenhout <\/strong> (the aunts\u2019 house in Leuven is situated on the corner of the Oude-Markt, the Parijsstraat and the Lavorenberg)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"617\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img007-1024x617.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-37857\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img007-1024x617.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img007-300x181.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img007-768x463.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img007-1536x926.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img007-2048x1234.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img007-973x586.jpg 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img007-508x306.jpg 508w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"636\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-34-1024x636.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-37940\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-34-1024x636.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-34-300x186.png 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-34-768x477.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-34-973x604.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-34-508x315.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-34.png 1405w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-187 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>\u201c My sturdy sacristan, aunt Elvire, should have stood up for it.  I regret it! \u201d &#8211; J.V. Buggenhout  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-188 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"613\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-87.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-38676\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-87.png 613w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-87-180x300.png 180w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-87-508x849.png 508w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 613px) 100vw, 613px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-189 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Elvire with the bottle, the man in the picture is Arthur, Godfried\u2019s father.  The girl at front left is Tinkeke Van Dyck, Godfried\u2019s mother<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-190 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Den Bug (that is what Van Buggenhout is called) is a great wine lover and regularly organises a wine evening at the Misses Van Kerckhoven\u2019s. The well-known Leuven wine firm Boon-Hecking from the Vaartstraat supplies the wines. On those occasions he invites his colleagues from the Faculty of Medicine, among them the eye specialist Professor Appelmans, nicknamed <em>\u2018the Apple of the Eye\u2019<\/em>. To his students as well as to the Misses Van Kerckhoven, \u2018the Apple of the Eye\u2019 repeats: \u00ab&nbsp;Look in my eye.&nbsp;\u00bb His brother Ren\u00e9, professor of Surgery, nicknamed \u2018the Pee Apple\u2019, is also invited. (At that time no distinction was made between surgery and urology. It was a subordinate orientation within Surgery). They came to visit there regularly. The aunts\u2019 \u2018Weinstube\u2019 is well known at the Faculty of Medicine in Leuven. Church dignitaries from Mechelen are also regular guests of Frie\u2019s aunts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-191 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">\u201c The men from Mechelen came driving up to the Oude-Markt dressed in mauve in limousines with chauffeurs.  The neighbours were impressed every time. \u201d <em> &#8211;<\/em> Elvire<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"764\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img008-1024x764.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-37859\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img008-1024x764.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img008-300x224.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img008-768x573.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img008-1536x1146.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img008-2048x1529.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img008-973x726.jpg 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img008-508x379.jpg 508w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-192 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Van Buggenhout teaches Chemistry to the first-year students of the Faculty of Medicine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-193 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">In her old age Elvire repeats with the regularity of a cuckoo clock what the key figure den Bug used to say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Und so geht alles for \u00fcber und so geht alles vorbei, but a little piece of cake can still be squeezed in!<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>La vie est am\u00e8re et les pommes de terre sont ch\u00e8res! (as a clergyman he could hardly say \u2018Les femmes sont ch\u00e8res\u2019.  Moreover he was permanently spoilt by Margharitha, Bertha and Elvire)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>When it is your birthday you get to hear from den Bug: \u201cTwenty years growing, twenty years blooming, twenty years standing still and twenty years decaying.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"728\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-86-1024x728.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-38662\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-86-1024x728.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-86-300x213.png 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-86-768x546.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-86-1536x1092.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-86-2048x1456.png 2048w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-86-973x692.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-86-508x361.png 508w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-194 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>The Mature Age (1902) &#8211; Camille Claudel<\/strong> <strong>(1864-1943)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/DSCF1002-2k-1024x671.jpg\" alt=\"Deze afbeelding heeft een leeg alt-attribuut; de bestandsnaam is DSCF1002-2k-1024x671.jpg\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-195 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">L to r: <strong>Margaretha, C\u00e9cile, Jos, Bertha, ?, Maria, Clara, Sylvie, Canon Van Buggenhout, Paul, Frie, Arthur, Elvire<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-196 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Never underestimate the power of the seven sisters.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"583\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img032-1024x583.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-37910\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img032-1024x583.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img032-300x171.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img032-768x437.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img032-1536x874.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img032-2048x1166.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img032-973x554.jpg 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img032-508x289.jpg 508w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-197 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>the canon, Josse, Elvire<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/DSCF2036-2k-1024x566.jpg\" alt=\"Deze afbeelding heeft een leeg alt-attribuut; de bestandsnaam is DSCF2036-2k-1024x566.jpg\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-198 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">L to r: <strong>Frie, professor Van Buggenhout, Elvire, &#8230; ?&#8230; <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-199 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">\u201c For those of Leuven, Aarschot was not chic enough. \u201d &#8211; Frie<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-200 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">In 1960 Elvire and Bertha return, in an atmosphere of mourning, to the parental home in Aarschot, where Josse has remained after the death of their sister Margaretha. But what is in the barrel does not turn sour. Elvire hangs a portrait of herself on the wall to the right of the chimney and one of professor Van Buggenhout to the left of the chimney. Whenever Elvire bears a grudge against den Bug, his portrait is replaced by that of the pope. Between the sisters and their canon it had been like a tragicomedy of ego and envy. The church community extracted money, art and silverware from them. But when the pope appears on television, her sister calls out to Elvire in ecstasy: \u201c Vie, hurry up and get here, the pope is on the telly! \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"650\" height=\"507\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-27.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-28822\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-27.png 650w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-27-300x234.png 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-27-508x396.png 508w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-201 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Clara, Maria, Arthur, Tineke<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"682\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-47.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-28882\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-47.png 682w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-47-200x300.png 200w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-47-508x763.png 508w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 682px) 100vw, 682px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-202 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Alfons Dille, of Scheut <\/strong>(1908-1980) the Van Kerckhoven family supports the projects of the missionary in China and Congo<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"584\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/image-7-1024x584.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-31739\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/image-7-1024x584.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/image-7-300x171.png 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/image-7-768x438.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/image-7-973x555.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/image-7-508x290.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/image-7.png 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-22-1024x682.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-28807\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-22-1024x682.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-22-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-22-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-22-973x648.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-22-508x339.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-22.png 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-203 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">? , ?, ?, Tineke, ? , ?; Arthur, Maria, ?, Sylvie<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-23-1024x682.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-28810\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-23-1024x682.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-23-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-23-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-23-973x648.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-23-508x339.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-23.png 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-204 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Arthur, Elvire, Tineke, Maria, C\u00e9cile, Sylvie, Margaretha, Clara, ?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-205 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Elvire (39) and her six sisters are close friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"356\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/image-6-1024x356.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-31737\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/image-6-1024x356.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/image-6-300x104.png 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/image-6-768x267.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/image-6-1536x533.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/image-6-2048x711.png 2048w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/image-6-973x338.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/image-6-508x176.png 508w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"602\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img020-1024x602.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-37886\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img020-1024x602.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img020-300x176.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img020-768x451.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img020-1536x902.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img020-2048x1203.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img020-973x572.jpg 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/img020-508x298.jpg 508w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-206 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>C\u00e9cile, Arthur, Tineke, Maria, unknown, Elvire<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"770\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/image-17-770x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-33139\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/image-17-770x1024.png 770w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/image-17-226x300.png 226w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/image-17-768x1021.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/image-17-1156x1536.png 1156w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/image-17-973x1293.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/image-17-508x675.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/image-17.png 1203w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 770px) 100vw, 770px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-207 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>(1990)  Why does the film \u2018Tatie Danielle\u2019 remind Pieter of his great-aunts?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/mX65ojiRkLo\">https:\/\/youtu.be\/mX65ojiRkLo<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"421\" height=\"730\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-37.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-35033\" style=\"width:621px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-37.png 421w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-37-173x300.png 173w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 421px) 100vw, 421px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-208 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Margaretha and Rosa Van Kerckhoven<\/strong>  (photo: 1958)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-209 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Besides their three nephews Paul, Jos and Godfried, there is still a hidden cousin lying in wait: Rosa, the daughter of uncle Richard, about whom not a word is mentioned.  Until she launches a charm offensive and regularly comes by train to Aarschot to visit her doting aunts.   Rosa wants to move in with the aunts. If one of them were to die, that could be useful. Little Pieter regularly visits the doting aunts and reports back to Frie: \u201cAunt Jos flew into a rage again: Arthur\u2019s lot (Paul, Jos, Frie) must not think that it will all go so easily. And aunt Jos took a large brown envelope containing the will out of the mahogany chest of drawers and threw it across the drawing room.\u201d Pieter urges his great-aunts to be careful of that Rosa because she is not chic, a completely different style from ours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"755\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-16-755x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-36285\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-16-755x1024.png 755w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-16-221x300.png 221w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-16-768x1042.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-16-1132x1536.png 1132w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-16-1509x2048.png 1509w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-16-973x1321.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-16-508x689.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-16.png 1890w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 755px) 100vw, 755px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color has-normal-font-size wp-elements-210 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>&#8221; La tendresse a des secondes qui battent plus lentement que les autres. &#8221; &#8211; Romain Gary<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-211 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">To safeguard the inheritance, \u201cArthur\u2019s lot\u201d decide to visit their aunts daily.  Mia also makes an effort and bakes a pheasant for them. A recipe by the Michelin-starred chef Roger Souvereyns of Scholteshof, bien \u00e9videmment.  But the aunts do not follow food trends, they are not cool enough for that.  \u201cThat pheasant of Mia\u2019s, we couldn\u2019t get it down.  She puts far too many herbs on it.  We tried it and threw everything in the bin.  Our Marja, she could cook game well.\u201d  Indignant, Pieter takes revenge on the aunts\u2019 cuckoo clock. Standing on a chair he pulls the Black Forest bird out of its little house. But the wooden bird does not come loose from the rod.  From then on the little wooden door stays open and the cuckoo dangles bent downwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"942\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-30-1024x942.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-37786\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-30-1024x942.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-30-300x276.png 300w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-30-768x706.png 768w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-30-1536x1413.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-30-973x895.png 973w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-30-508x467.png 508w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-30.png 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-212 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>\u2018Coaching Taverns\u2019 1828 Royal Tudor Ware from Staffordshire used by the aunts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color has-large-font-size wp-elements-213 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\"><strong>Is Godfried\u2019s stamp collection still worth anything?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"360\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-108.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-39542\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-108.png 360w, https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/image-108-203x300.png 203w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 360px) 100vw, 360px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-214 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">Like many children, Godfried collected stamps and his godfather Richard Van Kerckhoven helped him with it.  Richard is a brother of the aunts and postmaster in Brussels.  Years later Godfried proudly shows the stamp collection to his offspring.  Frie explains which type of Belgian stamps are really worth something.  Pieter soon finds that dull as ditchwater and promptly decorates the drab Belgian stamps with felt-tip pens.  From the first to the last, members of the royal family get red lips, earrings, eye shadow and still more frivolities.  Frie is in shock when he discovers the disastrous ruination of his preserved treasure and can tip the whole fuss into the bin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-215 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">The glory days of the Misses Van Kerckhoven, the once so influential seven sisters, are over.  What remains of the status-obsessed empire?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-216 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#4f1677\">X <a href=\"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/en\/x-studies\/\">Studies <\/a>&gt;&gt;&gt;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&lt;&lt; VIII Spare little brother standing: Canon Van Buggenhout, &#8230; , Godfried Van Kerckhoven, Margheritha Van Kerckhoven, Arthur Van Kerckhoven, Paul Van Kerckhoven seated: Jos Van Kerckhoven, Elvire&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7728,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-my-father"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48364\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.museum-aarschot.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}