The 65km long Belgian coastline comes with a justified reputation for over development. It has been described as “a concrete riviera”. So startlingly, brutally ugly is it, that it’s said “a trail of concrete desolation extends along the entire coastal strip”. Some buildings are so unforgivingly harsh on the eye, I doubt many people would shed a tear if the North Sea swallowed them. While it may lack beauty or dramatic natural features, the coast still retains the power to surprise and delight.
One of those surprises is also an utter delight. Scattered along the entire length of the coastline are more than 50 sculptures that form the permanent collection of the Beaufort Sculpture Park. This is the result of the Beaufort Triennial, a contemporary art festival that every three year cycle exhibits sculptures on the coast. Some are temporary, others live permanently on the beach, in the dunes and amongst the concrete monstrosities.
A recent visit to the western half of the sculpture park whetted my appetite. On a dark, cold morning, I set off to walk the eastern section from Knokke, close to the Dutch border, to Ostend. The day started bright and sunny, but it was bitterly cold as I stepped off the tram in Knokke. It was quite a walk from the tram to the beach, but at least I got to see part of the most upmarket coastal town in Belgium.
There are a couple of sculptures in the town, including a tower of beach cabins called Beach Castle in the middle of a road junction. As I turned westward onto the beach, I was greeted by a relentless and fierce wind blowing in off the North Sea that numbed the side of my head. The conurbation of Knokke-Heist extends for 5km to the port of Zeebrugge, but at Duinbergen the buildings are replaced by a small section of dunes.
Here I found three more sculptures. The playful Soccoristas, a couple of what look like lifeguards sit on top of a high chair on top of a dune looking out to sea. In a park behind the dunes is Trouble Sea, and in the middle of a nearby road is a shiny metal sculpture called N/E/W/S. I got back on the beach just before Zeebrugge. The route here wasn’t the most attractive part of the walk, but the views over the port made up for it.
It would be hard to describe Zeebrugge as anything but industrial, but on the far side of the port is a small resort area that looked quite pleasant. Here were more sculptures, including the curious concrete tubes called Star of the Sea, and the fascinating De man die de boot zag, in de lucht (The man who saw the boat, in the sky). One sculpture in two pieces, it includes what appears to be a Congolese dugout canoe.
By the time I reached Blankenberge with its pier, clouds had started to gather and the temperature dropped even further. One sculpture, Attentifs ensemble, is found on on the pier itself. Further along the promenade, climbing on the casino are three giant faceless Babys by famous Czech artist David Černý. Next to the harbour I found Monument voor een Saltimbanque, a sad looking harlequin character cast in bronze.
The stretch of beach between Blankenberge and Wenduine may have been icy cold, but it is also one of the least built up. Backed by dunes rather than blocks of flats that even Soviet planners would have rejected, it felt truly isolated. At the entrance to Wenduine is a tower of plastic beach chairs called Monobloc Moments. Leaving town is one of the stranger sculptures, a pink-hued child with donkey ears called Benjamin.
I was flagging a bit by the time I set off for De Haan, my final sculpture stop on this walk. First though, I went in search of a statue of Albert Einstein. The great German physicist had returned to Antwerp from the United States in 1933, just after the Nazis seized control of Germany. He was unable to safely return to Berlin and was offered shelter in De Haan for six months by friends. He would never set foot in Germany again.
De Haan is an interesting town with lots of whitewashed villas that’s definitely worth a visit in warmer weather. On the beach is Eternity – Poseidon, a replica of the Artemisian Bronze, an ancient Greek statue dating from 400 BC and discovered in a sunken ship. Further along the front were some non-Beaufort statues that were a lot of fun, including one with the word ‘amour’ written in the air. Time to catch the tram back to Ostend.
After an outdoor photo exhibition at Knokke-Heist we carried on down the Belgian Coast. It was very soggy and stormy week in early May, and the coast was stunning. I kept wanting to go back but with better weather and a few years later we did, and I was quite disappointed in how overdeveloped and less charming it was in the sunlight. But we might go back yet again – and hopefully this sculpture park will still be there. It looks beautiful.
Most of the sculptures are permanent, but they are quite spread out along the coast. A bike is probably the best way to see a good selection. The coast is quite built up, but the section north of Knokke is pretty nice.
Some of these sculptures are great!
How far was the walk? I like Beach Castle- I wonder if you can go insisde
Long, very long. Somewhere around 25km, but in the wind it felt quite a bit further. Sadly, beach castle was a bit decrepit. I suspect it will either have to be renovated or replaced. There was a safety fence around it so I don’t know if normally you could go inside.