[BELGIUM WHERE PAST MEETS THE PRESENT ]

[Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] old countries dwell upon their past as people do out of the ruins the history and tradition of bygone days they shape the present and their future yet seldom is the past preserved and made to live as it is here [Music] [Music] this is our country where the past meets the present the gray country the cloudy shallow beaches the green country the fertile plains of Flanders and her ancient towns the Black Country of the borinage from Charlevoix to the edge a belt of coal mines slag heaps molten steel all this is Belgium since early his dish land has known but little peace a Celtic chieftain named Ambiorix fought caesar's mighty legions near tonk Belgium's oldest town the tombs of fallen Legionnaires bear witness to a stormy past as do the fortresses of later days La Roche boo Yong Deena Namir on Belgium's many rivers and waterways past our towns and by the farms through plains and valleys that have echoed to many a conquerors drum travel the boatsman on their barges linking in peaceful trade many nations which so often through the centuries were divided by bitter enmity and so another workday has begun for our farmers in the fields [Music] the tradesmen in the towns [Applause] [Music] [Music] the fishermen who ply the coastal waters in their tiny vessels so peaceful seems the land so warm and sunny and yet the mood may change as storm clouds suddenly as if from nowhere blacken out the Sun and peasants anxiously watch leaden skies that may bring sudden hails before the crop Surrey [Music] eastward moved the barges from the coast through the lowlands of Flanders slowly traversing the narrow Austen canal toward the locks of Bruges bridge once the undisputed capital of Europe a rich metropolis full of medieval pageantry a patron of the Arts until the rivers wine was silted up and blocked the outlet to the sea for brittish's prosperity it was the death now [Music] [Music] and here is brugge beyond these granite gates that have withstood the test of centuries lives yesterday but let him tell who's homeless here in the under one is the me breed from 16th century my eyes rested on Gillette right please 13th century you sit on your right side at Pelican house 16:34 you see stopped Ellicott over the dollar day on your right side is an old English consulate from 17th century briefly this has a 1 you gets of the bridge the princess very very low all right thank you soon the younger aside from the love house as the latest love on your right side as the hospital of st. John and 88 inside the hospital as a memory museum this was the time of bridges greatest glory when men while living well on earth would lift their minds to heaven there was a tide of great religious paintings by men Lee and Jung Van Eyck the lighter painted the favored themed the Madonna and Child [Music] family portraits too were done in the religious manner Hans Memling hated Madame Marie kneeling in prayer with her 11 daughters and to the left her husband his patron saint and his five son bridge was a city of wealth the banking center for the rich merchants of Venice and Genoa for the ferger's of Augsburg the Medici of Florence her warehouses filled with imported goods from 17 nations her citizens proud and free jealously guarding their charter of privileges locked with 10 lakhs in a chamber high up in the city's belfry their towering symbol of freedom look you stay tense over of the church not read on the 301st exceeds 13th century looked on your left side you'll see the true here for ladies they make it proves laces [Music] [Music] [Music] and thus did Bruges remaining as she always was become a quaint old town a jeweled memory of the past painters but again that is another story adversity could never stop the city's progress nor could her prince Lee rulers tame her rebellious commoners for long led by a simple brewer jakob funada folded against people rose and fought for freedom and centuries later a weaver leavin Bauwens saved the city from decline when he returned from England with a stolen secrets of the modern loom today cotton imported from Egypt is transferred to barges moved from the river Scout via the Ghent canal into the textile mills of the city [Music] [Music] the clatter of bobbins and spindles the humming of motors is the music of modern game [Music] her linen products famed for strength are made from native flax grown on the plains of flanders at Alden are they mr. Vega Rosa Larry Dahmer and portray [Applause] [Music] [Music] down the pretty valley of immers on tuna Muir and Leo [Music] this is the other belly the land of smoking chimneys factories cement plants rolling mills were towering pit heads and mountain of slag heaps passed their shadows [Applause] this is the black country the land of the coal mine [Music] [Music] three times a day around the clock around the Year black tired men emerge and clean men enter [Music] [Music] [Music] taller growth it's like heaps pushing into the countryside at malls and isdon't the age in Charlevoix but we must produce coal the only raw material found in quantity in belgian saw it 30 million tons a year and more coal to feed 3000 belgian engines every day coal to export in trade for copper rubber iron ore and other raw stuffs which the skill of belgian craftsmen turns into finished goods that we can re export for prize [Music] [Music] the glass workers form the molten glass into intricate and beautiful shapes for the world's market [Music] [Music] around the clock around the year through searing heat for his molten metal steel wire to make fences for Australian steel plate to be used in the shipyards of Antwerp we repair ships we build ships as good as anyone faster than anyone and we sail them all over the world Antwerp busiest harbour in Europe we load and unload ships in record time because our coal production can never fill the needs of our modern expanding industry oil is brought by tanker from Arabia pumped into storage tanks in Antwerp Harbor [Music] oil products move inland by tank truck chemical fertilizer manufactured in Liege loaded in barges transfer didn't work for shipment overseas Malayan rubber four tires and belts from Canada lumber for furniture copra from the Belgian Congo to be processed for edible oils from India jute for the spinning mills of Ghent and portray to be react sported as yarn and clock and sacks phosphate friendship from France to Brazil all these and a thousand other things move through Antwerp Belgium door to the world we are also a seafaring nation and fishing yields us food for ourselves and for export [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] on Sunday the farmer leaves his fields to attend his church [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] the grain is nearly ready for the harvest now the Miller sets the sales of his windmill and the time of reaping and grinding is at hand [Music] [Music] [Music] - the butcher there's an art to Barney's don't think Anita here to go see because they don't worry on my on my mother's face like Twitter quality okay here's a little just got yours or need to dine lemme well the days are kick on Angie sword Yama Yama Yama Yama the Deauville sokka's noise first I'll a that's a solid y'all moco board earlier about you McCall jackie khones ever hold against were you elevate it so me [Music] chickadee that was the point of to Asik so come with us Sweeney Elena Dustin are you awake I want about hope me do is watch your heart be will be where you are not certainly give it to Olga such a nobody and thus the work is done the harvest safely in the horse turned out to pasture now to play in legend come to life in our town and village festival in the town of us the giant horse byyyeee are operated by sixteen men dancing through the streets who carries the four sons of a monk and here is Archduke Albert in his spouse Isabel as they visited our to open the town hall received by the mayor and his aldermen visitors from other lands Italian fishermen on their barge holding at knifes point a captive set [Applause] this armored lady represents the fighting spirit of the town of Oz we call her Menzel victory I'm Biarritz the Celtic Warrior well over 12 feet high perhaps not quite correct in costume but surely Marshall looking just as tall as Samson of the Bible hero of the Gunners regiment of odd attired in a regimental uniform [Applause] [Music] but here the drums and trumpets announce a stately faith the ama gong of brussels a pageant held in regal splendor in honor of emperor charles v than his sister mary queen of Hungary [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the fortresses have crumbled and as the legends grow the old men speak of battles that happened long ago at Waterloo and Ypres at Liege and that Bastogne lie many nations soldiers along with our own [Music] again our hands are busy in field and factory and we enjoyed small pleasures for once more we are free [Music] [Applause]