The best traffic-free bike rides around Orp-Jauche

The patronage "Annunciation of Mary" (or in another spelling: Mariä Verkündigung) of this church refers to one of the many memorial or feast days in honor of the Mother of God, Mary. The Feast of the Annunciation to Mary (liturgical designation: Annunciation of the Lord) is celebrated on March 25th, exactly 9 months before Christmas. This is because it refers to the message that the angel of the Lord brought her: that she was to give birth to the Son of God – Jesus Christ. According to the report in the 1st chapter of the Gospel of Luke, this happened in Nazareth (Israel). There, at the site where this – according to a tradition of around two thousand years – is said to have occurred, stands a large church, which can therefore be considered the 'original patronage church' for the title of the local house of worship. The Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth can be found as a komoot highlight at the following link =>> https://www.komoot.com/de-de/highlight/251260

St. Peter's Church is a Neo-Romanesque architectural monument, built from 1867 onwards to a design by architect Henri Maquet (1839-1909) on the site of an older church that was in danger of collapsing. Gilles Cornet, a contractor from Latinne, demolished the old church and built the new building, which opened in 1868. Due to a lack of funding, the church was not fully completed until 1882. The church, built of bricks molded on site with clay from the priest's pasture, has simple limestone decoration. The architect drew inspiration from Romanesque architecture: an interplay of arcades and semicircular arches. Henri Maquet de Braives, born into a family of cabinetmakers from the Avennes region, received his artistic training at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Liège and Brussels. As an architect for the bourgeoisie, he continued his career in Brussels, where he designed numerous townhouses. He designed, among other things, the current facade of the Royal Palace and a greenhouse in Laeken commissioned by King Leopold II. His architecture was inspired by the architecture of Ancient Greece and the Italian Renaissance. In the region, he designed the Saint-Maurice Church in Abolens and the plan of the Saint-Martin Church in Wasseiges, early works. Source: Information board on site

nice place to go on holiday

great view, nice climb

Orp station, with telegraphic code ORP, was a railway station in Orp-le-Grand from 15 October 1865 to 4 October 1959 for passengers and until 20 October 1981 for goods, since 1977 a sub-municipality of Orp-Jauche in Walloon Brabant on railway line 147 (Landen - Tamines). https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Station_Orp Be sure to also take a look at the area around the station where the railway facilitated an industrial activity that is now a thing of the past. At the front there is a car park and on the other side of the road you can see a small "castle", the castle of Tongerlo. The back is more interesting with a pleasant park on the RAVeL cycle path and at the intersection with the main road (at the chip shop) various buildings from a recent industrial past. An information board also tells what they are/were: you can see the remains of a sugar factory, workers' buildings, remains of the cement industry and so on.

The church closed its doors at the end of the twentieth century. In 2022, L'Avenir wrote that due to a lack of maintenance, the condition of the building had deteriorated and that it even posed a safety hazard. After all, during maintenance on the roof, one of the walls was no longer stable. The mayor would urgently look into eliminating the dangerous situation. Today, the building is apparently still in poor condition and the chosen safety solution apparently seemed to close off the area around the building with fences, just like the adjacent rectory. At the time, it was said that they wanted to keep the church because of its heritage value, but until further notice, only the area around it is useful for a beautiful horse that comes to say hello from all sides. Article on https://www.lavenir.net/regions/brabantwallon/orp-jauche/2022/06/30/orp-jauche-on-ne-rasera-pas-leglise-notre-dame-dorp-le-petit-TZABF6D5TFEXZNOGPWS7DKDKYQ/

The Château Rose was built by order of Albert-Pierre Stier (1745-1816). In 1776, he bought the seigniory of Orp, as it had been known since the end of the 17th century, when the land of Orp-le-Grand was merged with that of Orp-le-Petit. The pillory of Orp-le-Petit at the front is one of about fifty in Belgium that are listed by the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage. When our country was invaded by France in 1794, the French revolutionaries rushed to abolish the symbols of the Ancien Régime and the pillory was demolished. A few years later, around 1826, Baron Jean-François de Vinck de deux Orp (1774-1827), nephew of the builder of the castle, had the restored elements of the pillory rebuilt on his estate, more specifically in the central part of the meadow below the castle. Source: https://www.orp-jauche.be/wp-content/uploads/Brochure_PetitPatrimoinePopulaire_ORP.pdf

Annunciation Church from 1760