Brussels – Erasmus House and Garden

The Tour de France is over for 2011. Cadel Evans of Australia is the winner. Mark Cavendish of the UK (Isle of Man) won the Green Jersey, Samuel Sanchez of Spain won the Polka-Dot Jersey and Pierre Rolland of France the White Jersey (see my last post to understand the meaning of the jerseys.) It was moving to watch Cadel Evans on the podium on the Champs-Elysées in Paris at the conclusion of the Tour.

The TV announcers said that 50% of the viewers are not cyclist fans but watch the Tour de France to see the landscape and sights along the way. Below are some of the sights from this Tour (photos courtesy Gibson Photo, NBC, VeloNews and AFP.)




Now after all the Tour emotions I am returning to reporting on our short stay in Brussels. After visiting the Beguinage in Anderlecht (see post here) we visited Erasmus House and Gardens.

Click on collage to enlarge, then on individual photo to embiggen

Growing up around old buildings in France, I took antique houses as a matter of fact. After decades in the US I now am more impressed when standing in a house built several centuries ago. Erasmus house was built in 1515 and has been restored to the way it looked in 1521. It is one of the oldest Gothic houses in Brussels. This Burgundian style house was transformed into a museum in 1932.

It was almost lunch time, the sun was shining brightly – time to take some pictures while the courtyard was deserted.




A guide accompanied us through the house. No pictures were allowed and she stood close to me to make sure I would not take any. Coincidentally postcards were available for purchase and I bought several. We saw a Renaissance hall, a Rhetorical chamber, the study and a room with frescoes. Many works of arts, including drawings, prints by Albrecht Dürer and oils by Holbein are shown in them. In the Rhetorical chamber you feel you jumped back to the 16th century. Some portraits of Erasmus are in the study. The one below was painted by Hans Holbein the Younger (German 1497-1543.)




Another room had the walls covered with Cordova leather in turquoise and gold. The room with frescoes had gothic furniture and a rare collection of volumes of Erasmus.




The library has many prints of Erasmus and I understand that there is a reading room, containing one the world’s largest collection of 16th century volumes, which is reserved for scholars researching ancient works. Erasmus lived in this house in 1521.

Erasmus by Albrecht Dürer, German 1471-1528

I knew the name Erasmus but, frankly, was not sure about what he had accomplished. I read up on it and have enough notes to write a 10 pages report – no,I won’t transcribe them here… I’ll try to sum it up. Desiderius Erasmus was born in the Netherlands, in Rotterdam, in either 1467 or 69 and died in Basel in 1536. Rotterdam has a statue of him.

1622 Statue of Erasmus in Rotterdam (courtesy Wikipedia)

Below is a 100 Dutch Guilders bill showing Erasmus. The Guilder was the currency of the Netherlands until it was replaced in 2002 with the Euro. Actually I still have some old Guilders in a purse.

Erasmus was a classical scholar, theologian and the most renowned humanist ever. He was the inspiration of Martin Luther but argued with him about sin and free will. He was called “the Prince of Humanists” as he advocated religious education toward a simple faith which would be accessible to all. His intellectual knowledge was such that Kings and others rulers of the time invited him to be their guest. He was always traveling and had a great influence on the scholars of his time. He called himself a citizen of the world not restricted to any one region and said that he belong to the “Republic of Letters.” “When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes” Erasmus. I second that!

Bust of Erasmus in Gouda, Holland where he lived around 1487 (Wikipedia)

Erasmus wrote some popular books including Encomium Moriae (In Praise of Folly) (1509) which poked satirical fun at church and society. He was against the powers of ignorance and superstition and loathed clerical fanaticism. He was disgusted by the ignorant hostility to learning that reigned at the time. In 1516 he published a pioneer translation of the Greek New Testament with parallel Latin text. It exposed the many errors of the text the Catholic Church was then using. Of course the Catholic Church did not like that and it censured many of his writings. He was for a time placed, on the order of Pope Pius IV, on the Roman Index librorum prohibitorum, the List of Prohibited Books.

“Man's mind is so formed that it is far more susceptible to falsehood than to truth.” Erasmus

Postcard showing original Erasmus censured writings

Erasmus was an innovator, a reformer and an eternal student. His message was spread through his books and thousands of letters. He favored church renewal and tolerance. Here was a man in the 1500s who believed that one should not judge others’ ideas, that mankind should have free will and independent beliefs (as when he visited Moslems.) He would have liked to see the power of the clergy broken; he had the ear of the educated class. Alas Luther spoke to the people and the ignorant and out of his revolt arose evangelism, another type of fanaticism.

Portrait of Erasmus, Quent Massys, Belgian 1465-1530

Erasmus was a pacifist and attempted to persuade the rulers by his books and letters to end wars and bring peace to their lands. Erasmus’ Adagia (explanation here ) first published in Paris in 1500 contains the following writing: "The people build cities, princes pull them down; the industry of the citizens creates wealth for rapacious lords to plunder; plebeian magistrates pass good laws for kings to violate; the people love peace, and their rulers stir up war."

Peter van den Dungen, a Lecturer in Peace Studies at the University of Bradford in England says that : “ If any single individual in the modern world can be credited with 'the invention of peace,' the honour belongs to Erasmus rather than Immanuel Kant whose essay on perpetual peace was published nearly three centuries later." I think we need another Erasmus right now.

“He who allows oppression shares the crime. The most disadvantageous peace is better than the most just war.” Erasmus

Portrait of Erasmus in his later years, Hans Holbein the Younger

After the visit of the museum we walked toward the garden. Erasmus introduced the concept of a philosophical garden -‘Nature is not silent but speaks to us everywhere and teaches the observant man many things if she finds him attentive and receptive.’ (Convivium religiosum.) The garden was redesigned in 1932 and again in 1987 on medieval and Renaissance ideas.

Erasmus wished to have a garden filled with medicinal plants but also to be an invitation to sit down and enjoy the time as it slips by or to exchange reflections with friends for, as Erasmus said, "‘Where your friends are, there is your wealth.’” ( Là où sont mes amis, là est la richesse.) Below is the Medicinal and Herb Gardens.




Each curative plant has a tag with its name and a little figure of Erasmus showing where it helps the body.




We left the enclosed garden and entered another garden which was not so formal but in a more natural setting.




Beautiful roses were climbing on the red brick walls.

Little reflecting pools of water have Latin phrases placed there to make you think or philosophize.




Chairs and benches are placed in various parts of the little garden to incite you to sit and meditate. Some light wood benches had a beautiful design and I sat for a few seconds to silently contemplate the wild flowers nearby – but my husband was coming and we could not stay long.




There was no more time to observe the sun rays and shadows playing on the leaves. It was time to leave this magical garden – so peaceful in the middle of the vibrant cosmopolitan city of Brussels.




So we walked back to the planted garden to rejoin our friends.



And here is my favorite quotation:

"I am a citizen of the world, my homeland is everywhere, I'm a foreigner everywhere" - from a letter Erasmus wrote to the reformer Ulrich Zwingli.

Painting of Desiderius Erasmus statue in Rotterdam market (by unknown artist.)