Top 6 Caves around Tienen

This path, which you reach after a short, steep climb from the stream, leads you along an inaccessible nature reserve, where you literally walk above an old quarry and caves for a part. At a certain point you literally walk above the entrance to that underground quarry that you can also see below. Part of the path runs between the edge of the valley and fields and on another part you have the nature reserve instead of the fields that was given the name 'Réserve naturelle Natagora des Caves Paheau'. Natagora is the counterpart of Natuurpunt and the quarry and caves are therefore called the 'caves Paheau'.

The Heldensquare is more of a memorial than a monument. As a monument, it commemorates the victims of Belgian independence, the First World War and the Second World War. The place where the Heldensquare is located used to be a pond, a fact that was included in the concept. The square is sunken and surrounded by benches, planters, trees, a broken stone wall and various works of art. The monument itself consists of a sculptural ensemble in bronze and bluestone with a brick wall next to it with the names of the fallen and the text "VOOR UW VRIJHEID ZIJN MENSEN GESDIVEN". Around the bronze dome with the statues you will find the names of four places from which soil was brought to Tienen in urns: Dachau, Zwickau, Stalag IA and Breendonk. The whole was created by local architect Jacques Piron and sculptor Georges Van de Voorde. Inventory of Immovable Heritage: War Memorial Heldensquare, https://id.erfgoed.net/erfgoedobjecten/214961

You enter and exit the cave via rather large stairs and see all kinds of thank-you notes from believers who once came here. At the entrance of the cave (on the right) there is also a frame with some explanation about Our Lady of the Pool. According to that sign, the remains of a pious man named Thierry were found around 1050. He came from Campen and was a lecturer at the University of Paris. He had also made a promise of eternal chastity to the Virgin Mary. A chapel was built at the site of the murder with the permission of Jan I, Duke of Brabant. And he was baptized, you guessed it, Our Lady of the Pool. Hundreds of pilgrims would come to Tienen and the chapel every year to venerate the Virgin Mary, who was soon regarded as the Queen of the city and its surroundings. And you can read and experience the rest here, in the immediate vicinity of the church and – literally – in the depths when you go down the stairs.

No one will stop you from stopping at the cave...

These column-like shapes are beautifully arranged in a circle, each with a statue attached to it...

Nice views from the hillside path...

Limit your speed on the descent!!! Blind turn and possible pedestrians.

The neo-Romanesque Saint Barthélemy church dates from 1868. In front of the church is an old cross and to the left of the church (on the ground of the church itself, near the entrance) a cave has been built that you can clearly see from the road, a unusual and a fairly large construction that gives the church environment a very special view. On the right side of the church, a small road leads you to a picturesque old part of the village, the Kleine Gete, the old mill and an old barn.