Turnhout

Turnhout became the centre of playing card manufacture in Belgium from the early nineteenth century, at one point supplying a large share of the world market, and the Playing Card Museum occupies a former card factory with the presses, stencils, cutting machines and stone lithography equipment still in place, along with a collection of cards from across the world and several centuries. The town also has a beguinage of white houses around a green, listed with the other Flemish beguinages, and the Castle of the Dukes of Brabant, a moated brick building now used as a courthouse. The Kempen around it is sandy heath and pine, a poor agricultural region historically, with the Turnhout fen nature reserve to the north.

History

Turnhout grew at the crossing of two trade routes, under the protection of a hunting castle of the dukes of Brabant that existed by 1110 or earlier, recalled in its coat of arms, and Duke Henry I made it a free town around 1212. It gained its Saturday market in 1338, still held, a traveller in 1466 counted five churches among well-built houses and paved roads, and by the 16th century it was a wealthy trading town, until war, fire, confiscations and epidemics at the end of that century drove many of its citizens to the Dutch Republic (Wikipedia, Turnhout).

The main sights

• The playing card factory museum - presses and lithography stones in place.
• Cards from several centuries - the collection the industry left behind.
• The beguinage - white houses around a green, behind a gate.
• The moated ducal castle - a brick building now serving as a courthouse.

When to go

April to October. Half a day. The card museum closes on Mondays and has limited hours. The beguinage is open ground. The Kempen heaths nearby are best in late summer when the heather flowers.

What to expect

The card museum is a specialist interest and labelling is largely in Dutch. The castle is a working courthouse and not open. The town is otherwise ordinary. Public transport into the Kempen countryside is limited.

Nearby

The Kempen heaths lie north; Antwerp is south-west.

Key facts