The Princes Park in

Retie Retie (; , ) is a municipality located in the Campine region of the province of Antwerp (province), Antwerp, Belgium. The municipality comprises the town of Retie proper and several hamlets of which Schoonbroek is the largest. In 2021, Retie had a ...

() is located in the

Campine The Campine () or Kempen () is a natural region situated chiefly in north-eastern Belgium and parts of the south-eastern Netherlands which once consisted mainly of extensive moors, tracts of sandy heath, and wetlands. It encompasses a large n ...

region of the

Antwerp province Antwerp Province (; ; ; ), between 1815 and 1830 known as Central Brabant ( , , ), is the northernmost Provinces of Belgium, province both of the Flemish Region, also called Flanders, and of Belgium. It borders on the North Brabant province of t ...

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. It is a beautiful

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

that consists of ponds, trails, woodlands, meadows, playgrounds, picnic spots, canals and moorland which attract nature lovers and is also popular for walking, jogging, cycling and sightseeing.

History

The poor soil of the

region was called an ''Aart'' and was used by local farmers. In 1854, King

Leopold I of Belgium Leopold I (16 December 1790 – 10 December 1865) was the first king of the Belgians, reigning from 21 July 1831 until his death in 1865. The youngest son of Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Leopold took a commission in the Imperial Rus ...

acquired about 398 hectares of the Aart of Retie (Dutch: ''Retiese Aart'') with the intention of creating a park and building a

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

. However, the castle was never built. In 1950 the

coal mines Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

of Beringen acquired the park and used it to grow

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

s for the mines to support the

tunnel A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...

s. In 1972, the Province of Antwerp acquired the domain and turned it into a public park. The park became well known for scenes of the

TV series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming platf ...

Flesh and Bones which were shot in the park.Prinsenpark in de ban van de bospoeper

References

Sources

* ''Gids voor Vlaanderen'', Ed. Omer Vandeputte, Filip Devos, O. Vandeputte, p. 382, Lannoo, 2007
Prinsenpark
(Antwerp province)
Prinsenpark
(Retie)
Prinsenpark
(photo, location) 1972 establishments in Belgium Parks established in the 1970s Protected areas established in 1972 Parks in Wallonia Geography of Antwerp Province Tourist attractions in Antwerp Province Retie Leopold I of Belgium {{Belgium-geo-stub