hidden europe 48

Redu: that novel idea

by Paul Scraton

Picture above: From great novels to vintage romance, the whole world of the printed word is traded in Redu, a book town in Belgium (photo © Katrin Schönig).

Summary

Tucked away in the hill country of southern Belgium is the town of Redu. On the face of it, Redu is much the same as other towns in the Ardennes region. Except that, in Redu, the printed word is especially cherished and valued. Paul Scraton invites us to join him as he explores Belgium's premier 'book town'.

Follow a winding, narrow lane out from the Ardennes village of Redu and you come to a complex surrounded by high wire fences. The entrance gates to this forbidden zone are flanked by a guardhouse on one side and a row of oversized flags on the other. Behind the flags the land falls away, with smooth areas of manicured grass upon which stand a few low-rise buildings and over forty satellite dishes.

Surrounded by fields and the dense Ardennes forest, this is an oddly futuristic sight. Yet, for the European Space Agency (ESA), the dark skies of this rural region in the south of Belgium are perfect for monitoring ESA navigation and weather satellites orbiting the earth. Here are some of the most advanced communication systems ever devised by humankind, surrounded by fields of corn and the woods where wild boar roam.

On the first Saturday in August, metal gates are pulled across the four lanes that lead into Redu and meet at the centre of the village.

The satellites have the whole world covered and Redu is their pivot to earth. The Redu dishes filter information by the terabyte, but the ESA processing centre is not the greatest repository of knowledge in this village. No, back up the winding lane to the collection of stone houses clustered around the grey church, they do not only have one world covered, but many, many more.

The treasure hunt

On the first Saturday in August, metal gates are pulled across the four lanes that lead into Redu and meet at the centre of the village. At the barriers, drivers are directed by a bunch of smiling, multilingual teenagers to parking spaces marked out along the road in chalk. The rest of the journey must perforce be made on foot, and the later you arrive, the further you have to walk. For Redu is busy, and the roads reclaimed from vehicular traffic now belong to hundreds of strolling locals and visitors, all making slow progress along the village streets, as they search for treasure.

There is no need to hurry. Everything in Redu — aside from a few outlying farms and the space agency compound — is within a few hundred metres of St Hubert’s Church and the small square in front of the village hall. There, a group of young men in matching T-shirts sweat above hot coals and hand out sausages to passers-by in exchange for a couple of coins. The village cafés, of which there are three around the church alone, are also busy. Every plastic chair is taken and every tabletop cluttered with empty bottles and bulbous glasses of Trappist brew.

Related note

The warm shadow of Isabelle Eberhardt

Many years ago, I spent a long hot summer in and around a sleepy ksar on the edge of the Sahara. I read many books that summer, but it was 'Dans l’ombre chaude de l’Islam' that tugged and tugged again, urging me to return to its pages. That book was my introduction to Isabelle Eberhardt, a writer who — perhaps more than any other — has influenced my life and my thinking. This summer, so far from the desert and in a country where the most charming of all oases is my garden, I turned to Sharon Bangert’s English translation of 'Dans l’ombre chaude de l’Islam'. It appears under the Peter Owen imprint in a pocket-sized paperback.

Related note

Liturgical adventures during Coronavirus times

Across much of Europe, church services and other faith gatherings were very limited or non-existent at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. In many countries, churches remained open for private prayer, but there were some countries where churches were locked. For me, as perhaps for many others in these difficult times, the online services streamed by various congregations have been an unexpected blessing.