Photo taken in Lier, near Antwerp…
Photo taken in Lier, near Antwerp in Belgium.
There is a funny story about this town: In the 14th century, the Duke of Brabant wished to reward the City of Lier for joining his fight against the City of Mechelen. He offered the city the choice of either hosting a university or a livestock market. The city notoriously selected the livestock market option, upon which the Duke is reported to have sighed: "Oh, those wretched sheep heads". The university was eventually seeded in the city of Leuven, and it became one of Europe's first and most prominent universities. The nickname Schapekoppen (Sheep Heads in Dutch) is still used in Flanders to refer to the inhabitants of Lier.
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